Lowell North

Orton Lowell North ( born December 2, 1929 in Springfield, Massachusetts) is an American engineer, businessman and Olympic sailing. North also founded the North Sails, the world's leading sailmaker by his own account.

Life and North Sails

Lowell North studied at the University of California at Berkeley engineering. After graduation, he founded in 1957 in the coastal city of San Diego North Sails, in a room that was no bigger than a living room, " but big enough to make a star -boat mainsail ," as Lowell North says. North Sails developed for today the world's leading sailmaker. The Firm development Lowell North helped the many international contacts he had gained as a skipper. So he learned, for example, Hans Beilken, from the sailmaker Beilken from the Lower Saxony Lemwerder, on the sailing trip aboard the Germania yachts of the Alfried Krupp von Bohlen and Halbach know in the United States.

North Sails now has 63 main offices and 56 sales and service locations in 29 countries. This is especially North Sails leader in sail design and in the equipment of the Olympic boat classes. In addition, many of the America's Cup teams were among the customers of the company. To meet the great demand for 3DL high-tech membrane Sailing, North Sails operates a 78,000 -square-foot 3DL manufacturing facility in Minden, Nevada.

Sporting successes

Together with Richard Deaver and Charles Rogers won Lowell North at the Summer Olympic Games in 1964 in the Tokyo Bay the bronze medal in the Dragon class. At the games in 1968, he raced in the sailing waters of Acapulco in the Star class and was with his sailing partner, Peter Barrett, who was from 1973 to 1985 vice-president of North Sails, Olympic champion.

These Olympic successes, five wins the World Sailing Championships join in the Star class. 1977 contributed Lowell North, the yacht Enterprise by Sparkman & Stephens in the qualifying race for the America's Cup, but failed.