Plant turns to carbon copies

By ROBIN BAILEY




The fast-growing New Zealand company Southern Spars has swung its considerable design and manufacturing expertise into the manufacture of off-the-shelf carbon-fibre rigs for one-design performance-class race yachts.

Production has started in a self-contained factory in Auckland. Target markets are the growing number of one-design fleets up to 18m (60ft) in length, down to Olympic class and club dinghy class fleets.

Southern Spars aims to bring to off-the-shelf production spars the same quality and design innovation for which the company's custom-built spars for top-end race yachts and super yachts are internationally renowned.

Southern Spars director Mark Hauser says: "We will be a competitive producer of spars ranging from the P Class dinghy right through to production yachts of 25m [80ft] and bigger."

Owners of new generation production yachts demand performance above the deck for racing and passage-making as well as comfort below deck for family cruising. This market is growing quickly in Europe and North America.

Until recently, the cost of carbon fibre spars compared with aluminium inhibited the uptake of carbon. Owners and designers also had issues with quality, in design and finish, in carbon production masts, he says.

However, with alloy material prices rising and carbon fibre manufacturing efficiency gains, the price differential has been reduced to about 10 per cent. Hauser says with the price differential continuing to close rapidly, owners are looking to carbon fibre masts for new builds and to replace alloy rigs. The benefits are huge - for example carbon is half the weight.

The factory, in the Auckland suburb of Kingsland, will build masts for yachts from dinghies through to production boats up to 18m.

Management appointments reflect Southern Spars' philosophy of looking at spars and sails as an entity rather than separately.

One-design general manager John Clinton has been involved in four America's Cups and a Whitbread campaign and is a well-known sail designer who has been running his own sail loft specialising in one-design sails. He also coaches New Zealand Olympic sailors.

Projects manager Matthew Smith first sailed in the Whitbread on Outward Bound in 1981-82 followed by NZI Enterprise, Fisher and Paykel and Tokio. He was with the New Zealand Challenge in Fremantle in 1987 and the Tag Heuer America's Cup challenge in San Diego in 1995. His company C-Spars has been absorbed into Southern Spars.

Production manager Ian Matthews has a leading edge background in Formula 1 motor racing, aerospace composites and production boat building in Britain.

Last year, Southern Spars moved its one-design production from the United States to Auckland and has been making spars for a number of highly competitive classes including Mumm 30s and Melges 24s in Auckland.

It has also acquired the sole agency for Kilwell tubes for marine use for masts in yachts up to 6m (20ft) and for booms and spinnaker poles for bigger boats.