Southern Spars rules waves

Southern Spars director Mark Hauser with ABN Amro One skipper Mike Sanderson, in Wellington. Picture / Mark Mitchell

Whichever boat eventually takes the honours in the Volvo Ocean Race, Auckland company Southern Spars has already done well out of the competition.

At Wellington's Queen's Wharf where the seven race yachts are tied up, director Mark Hauser points out the three leaders ABN Amro One, ABN Amro Two, movistar and fourth placed Brasil 1 - all carrying the company's masts and rigs.

"We build pretty much everything from the deck up," says Hauser.

Southern Spars has got an enviable record in the race. In 2002, seven of eight teams used the company's masts and rigs including the winner, illbruck. In 1998, six of 10 and in 1994 it was four of 10, including winner Yamaha.

The company's dominance in supplying masts and rigs to high-performance yachts began in the early 90s when it was in liquidation. High profile yachtie Chris Packer and three partners bought it and turned it into the biggest mast maker in the world, along the way building the masts for New Zealand's 1995 America's Cup-winning team.

Although most of the company was sold to America's North Marine Group a few years ago, it remains largely a New Zealand concern. About 150 of the company's total workforce of just over 200 are based in Auckland, mostly at the Viaduct Harbour.

The company consists of four business units, Custom Projects and One Design, which design and produce masts and booms under the Southern Spars brand, and Composite Rigging and new service company Rig Pro.

Hauser estimates the company's overall annual turnover at between $35 million and $40 million.

Southern Spars' relationship with North Sails has seen the two companies work closely to improve the sail mast combination.

Hauser said the company was expecting to do good business with new carbon fibre rod rigging.

The introduction of canting or moveable keels on large high-performance yachts had increased the stresses rigs have to cope with.

"The loads are huge. It's new territory for everyone, it's taking yachting to a new level."

Hauser says finding, training and retaining enough skilled workers remains a headache.

"We've got some big plans for next year but one of the big things holding us up is the labour in New Zealand.

"It's a specialised industry and we employ generally younger people who we teach a lot and they tend to travel. We get hit pretty hard by these [Volvo Ocean Race] syndicates and the America's Cup syndicates so the labour's a big thing for us. If we could, we'd grow more."