NORTH CREW - TEAM WORK

Behind every brand lies a team of dedicated specialists whose job it is to design and bring to market a range. John Carter lifts the lid on the inner workings of NorthSails and the men behind the scenes that have kept them among the elite of the windsurfing industry for over twenty years and continue to fuel their reputation for innovation.

Words & Photos JOHN CARTER

Originally published within the November December ’16 edition.

RAOUL JOA

(Product and line manager, marketing, 25 years experience.)
Raoul has been at the helm of the North team for a quarter of a century and pretty much has his finger on the pulse of every element of the company.
“Aside from being born and going to school, after that my whole life has been NorthSails! The first job I ever had was with windsurfing and I hope that I can retire with this brand, as for sure I won’t work with any other company in the industry. It was my dream when I went to school to work for a windsurfing brand and when I left I started work as a sales person in a windsurfing shop that was the biggest North dealer at the time. I did a small apprenticeship and one thing lead to another and I went straight to NorthSails with a job in their customer service. I moved into the product side and eventually into marketing. I am now responsible for how the product comes out technically and optically. Alex is in charge of sales and we share the marketing. This is basically our setup in the office in Munich.

IMAGE
When I started, North was always the hard-core brand. We were perceived as the heavy-duty brand and almost unbreakable. Strength was the most important part. Lately, I am talking the last ten years, we are trying to focus on being the most technical brand in the industry with the focus on hardware. With sails I think it is very hard to differentiate yourself from the other brands. Most brands can make a decent sail design, even newcomers. For the end consumer it is pretty hard to say who makes the better sails. On the hardware side we saw a lot of opportunities to make superior products. We have worked very, very hard on this over the last decade. We are now very proud of our range, even though it has been a tough road refining them through all the ups and downs. We believe that in the long run innovation will give you the edge! We now have zero issues with all our innovations and offer features no other brands can offer. We are also protecting most of our products with at least a pre patent or a real patent for any major innovations.
The result is, I think in terms of hardware, we are the most innovative brand alongside Pryde in the industry. It is a tough road but I think it gives us an advantage. A lot of PWA racers buy our accessories because they are simply the best. I am very critical about what we do, but at the same time I am proud when we achieve something. We are very ‘open’. We have made our mistakes, but it is not possible to be an innovator without making mistakes. Right now I am very happy about the products we offer on the market.

‘iRIG’
The iRIG concept also originated from the North Team, myself and Uli. The breakthrough was in Turkey a few years back during the world cup on a trip I did with Uli and the team riders. We were testing a lot of hardware and the 9m LW race sail. We had been thinking of the inflatable windsurfing concept for five years. The fundamental problem was making a blow up rig with a boom. I had a brainstorming session with Uli and in the end our solution was to stop thinking like windsurfers. Instead of a complete sail profile we cut the concept into two halves – a sail at the top of the boom area and another below.

That was it, two different parts, which enabled us to put between them a big bladder with handles on it as the boom. That was basically my idea but Uli was the one who pushed me to think that way! We also had help from the guys at North kiting to make it possible using their technology and designer. A few weeks later we had the first sample. It didn’t take so long to design and it all came from this one ‘click’ idea we had. This sail really has the possibility to bring back the masses into windsurfing. We were shocked how easy it is to sail with the I-Rig. We now think that any ‘beach people’ might be interested again in windsurfing, with the help of a SUP and the I-Rig combined. The secret of SUP is that virtually anybody can jump straight on and get moving. With the I-Rig it is exactly the same. We tried it with twenty people on a Lake in Germany. We put them on a big SUP with no instruction at all. Truthfully, every single person went out and did not fall in! Half of them had not even been on a SUP before. They all made it out, without falling and even better, they all made it back. The iRIG is so light it makes windsurfing easy. It was a typical summer day, only 3-4 knots with big SUP’s but the results were incredible. Windsurfing is so easy with the I-Rig, everyone can do it!

GERMAN QUALITY
We are also trying to make as many products and accessories as possible in Germany or Europe. They are designed here and the raw materials come from Europe. ‘Made in Germany’ stands for quality, we have to be efficient and make the products by machine to stay competitive. For the last two or three years Fanatic boards and NorthSails have been working together as a team. The boards and the sails are designed so they work in harmony. Marketing wise all the companies will say they are one big family but I really believe our products are the best designed to work together!”

ULI BITTERORF

(Hardware engineering, 15 years experience.)
The man behind North’s pioneering Power XT base, Uli Bitterorf, has also been around in the North team for well over a decade. An avid windsurfer and visionary innovator, Uli is the heart and soul behind the incredible line of accessories North have on the market.
“I was originally an electrical engineer and I was fired from my job around fifteen years ago, so while I was unemployed I had some time on my hands. I have always been a fanatical windsurfer so I decided to take this opportunity to resolve the biggest problems for most everyday sailors. I decided it was rigging and in particular the downhaul! I came up with the idea for the Power XT. I knew a lot of sailors were unable to downhaul their new sails properly. It is like having a Ferrari and having hardly any air in your tyres, totally inefficient! After my first concept I put my idea out to the brands; I was so glad that I met Raoul who was the only person that was interested in my technical ideas.

So, at that time, I made my own engineering office for product development, which I have had for fifteen years now. My first project was to produce and refine the Power XT, which took over a year. I realized that I had a talent for detecting problems, finding ways of solving them or improving the existing ones and making products whilst at the same time keeping the costs down. The rotating clamp was the principle of the Power XT and the reason why it worked and the point of the patent. We started our relationship and now have been together for fifteen years. Right now I am particularly proud of our new Power XT version 2, which has been completely revamped and is working amazingly well. I am now in charge of designing all the North hardware. We are constantly trying to improve our products and also meet the new demands of the modern day windsurfing rig.”

ALEX HASCH

(Sales and marketing, 21 years experience.)
Alex boasts a wealth of experience in sales and marketing and works hand in hand with Raoul running the business behind the scenes at North.
“I am in charge of sales and I share the marketing with Raoul. I started windsurfing thirty years ago and did an apprenticeship with North way back in 1995. I met Raoul way back then as well. I also went to a private marketing school in Munich to learn more about the business side. Back in the day I worked with Mistral and Naish Sails, which were all under the same umbrella when it was “Mistral Sports GmbH”. I was in charge of F2 for several years and had my own distribution company for wristbands and apparel but now I am back full time with North. I am in charge of social media, making the catalogue, the sales side of the company and share the marketing with Raoul. We are both in charge of the team as well and also work with the guys at Fanatic, as the riders are across both brands.”

KAI HOPF

(Sail design, 24 years experience.)
Kai has been at the forefront of the North sail design team for over two decades, once again another voice of long term experience and incredible knowledge in his field. Working alongside the likes of Victor Fernandez, Marco Lang, Gollito Estredo and always in close contact with Raoul, Kai is in charge of the complete NorthSails range that goes out into production and consequently always has a tonne of work on his plate. “My job entails everything from mopping the floors (laughs), designing the sails, re-cutting the sails, taking them to the beach, making sure they test the sails and all the checks that need to be done before they go into production. I have been doing this for North for twenty years! I actually made my first sail thirty-three years ago. The more you learn each year, the more you learn what you don’t know! We improve our products with a lot of hard work behind the scenes. Our race sails improved dramatically the past few seasons. A sail can eventually reach a point where it is not improving so you have to reconceptualise. You pretty much throw everything away and start afresh. It is a tonne of work starting from scratch because you are not evolving from the previous sail. You have to mutate into a completely new product. We zeroed everything out, reset all and punched in fresh numbers and eventually came out with the new sails, which were incredible last season. More than anything the biggest challenge is figuring out what your goal is. The end result isn’t what people think it is half the time.

Our sails come as a complete package, which I think is hugely important. There are so many nuances that come into play with a rig that you kind of need to use all the recommended accessories to obtain the best performance from your product. Different masts have different impacts and everything is tuned to work a certain way to get the best performance. Raoul prides himself in producing the very best accessories and rightfully so. He has put a huge amount of work into the products. Uli is also an amazing engineer and technical guy. Every moment of his spare time he is going on a trip somewhere so he can try stuff out; he is passionate about what he does! I think that is reflected in the hardware. North is all about product, quality product!

The one thing that we have over our competitors is years of experience. We don’t have people coming and going. Raoul and myself have both been working for North for over twenty years now. Even the staff in the back office have all been there a long time. So when you call up NorthSails and you need a warranty or something, the person you talk to knows the job and the product inside out. Our whole team has been there a long time. We are loyal to riders and vice versa with the staff behind the scenes. If I start working with a rider for testing it can take two or three years before you really get them tuned in to your thought process. Marco Lang is now in his third year and has become extremely valuable. He knows how to communicate with me now and we have a great working relationship. It takes time to familiarize the way they analyse sails and their emotional attachment to the results. Some riders can be amazing sailors but horrible testers, so it all takes time to know the strengths and weaknesses of each character.

I like hearing about when a guy jumps on a sail and loves it. It does not matter if it is a team rider winning an event or a sailor in Utah who is stoked with his sail. That is the fun part. Every year there is a small window where you can be creative. It is not a big amount of time after you have finished all the year’s designs, but you do get to play when you start all over again. It is nice not to have the pressure on and be creative. I am never happy with the range of sails we make! That is the driving force behind why I do this job. Since I started designing sails, I was never happy with my gear. To this day, if I use a product or look at a product, my one goal is to try and make it better. The goal line always moves away from you! There is no room for being complacent because nobody else is standing still either. The bar keeps rising higher and the expectations keep getting bigger. Just because a sail is the best this year does not mean that it will be the best the following year. The high stress point for me of the year is getting all the sails out on time. There may not be wind during the last week of our test program or sails might get stuck in customs. That time period can be stressful. The workload can keep building for all the things you need to get done but the time you have to do it can become less and less. That is deadlines I suppose. You might sit down and realize you have 1000 hours of work to do and only 500 hours left! That situation I try and avoid at all costs!”