Obituary Lowell North, 1929-
The founder of North Sails was always a competitive sailor at heart. By BOB FISHER
Even his competitors
held him in respect and he
was dubbed ‘The Pope’
PHOTOS COURTESY OF NORTH SAILSL
owell North, who died aged
89 in San Diego, California,
was a man respected by all,
particularly those met him.
It wasn’t di cult to like him;
his personality radiated welcome. Even
his competitors held Lowell in respect
and he was dubbed “ e Pope”.
In sailmaking, he was simply superior
in technology before it had even been
given that term, but Lowell was rst
and foremost a sailor. It was at the age
of 14, when his father purchased a Star
and the young Lowell was encouraged
to crew for him, that his lifetime sport
was decided. e tale that has since
entered sailmaking legend tells how
Lowell re-cut the family Star’s cotton
sails. He took them to pieces, re-cut
the many panels into a shape that he
liked and the family Star went faster.
A er school Lowell trained as an
aeronautical/aerospace engineer – it
gave him an even greater appreciation of
the form sails should take and the best
method of producing that shape. at
appreciation led to the foundation of
North Sails in 1957, which soon brought
his association with Tom Whidden and
a continuous delight in the Star class.
Recently Bruno Prada said: “To
be Star Class world champion, I
think, is the biggest achievement
that a sailor can have. To win it two
times is to be part of the history of
the Star class. It means a lot.”Lowell won it on ve occasions, the
rst crewing for Malin Burnham in- He said: “It wasn’t me that Malin
really wanted, it was my mainsail!”
ere was no false modesty attached
to that statement. When I asked Malin
Burnham about it several years ago,
a wry smile spread over his face and
he said something to the eect of “he
was a jolly good crew” and laughed.
at world championship was held on
Central Long Island Sound but Lowell’s
next success was not until the series in
Havana in 1957. In the meantime, before
he was 40 he had won the US national
title three times and been second
on four occasions. His third world
championship success was in Newport
Harbour, CA, two years later; and then
the following year (1960) in San Diego.
Four years later he turned his attention
to the Dragon class to represent the
United States at the Olympic Games
in Tokyo. With Dick Deaver and
Charles Rogers crewing, he secured
a bronze medal. Four years a er that,
reverting to his lifelong love, the Star,
at the games in Mexico 1968, he was
the runaway and not unexpected
winner of the gold medal. All his
Stars were named “North Star”.
In 1977 Lowell had his rst altercation
with the America’s Cup. By this time,
he and his number two, John Marshall,
were turning sailmaking from an art
to a science with the development
of sail cloth. e boat was largely
sponsored by Fritz Jewett for the Fort
Schuyler Maritime Foundation. She
was built at Minnefords and then
transported to Driscoll’s San Diego
yard. Trials were held from San
Diego and the crew for Enterprise
chosen – it included Malin Burnham
as tactician and upwind helmsman.
e Defender trials ran over the
best part of three months and Lowell
faced his rival sailmaker, Ted Hood, in
Independence and the “mouth of the
south” Ted Turner with Courageous.
It was a hard ght, with Turner nally
emerging victorious. Lowell’s part in that
was with his sail cloth. A well-informed
Australian journalist stated at the time:
“Australia’s hopes of winning the Cup
could be wrecked by a sensational new
sail cloth that is being developed by
the Americans, led by Lowell North.”
With that sail cloth, Ted Turner
defeated Alan Bond’s challenge 4-0.
North Technology Group CEO
Tom Whidden has said that Lowell’s
philosophy when building North
Sails was simple: “Get the best people,
who he called Tigers, and commit
yourself to the science and technology
of making the best product.”
A er seeing the company grow
globally, Lowell retired from North
Sails in 1984 and devoted his time to
sailing, both racing and cruising, with
his wife, Bea. Not long ago he confessed
to me: “However much I enjoy this, and
I do, it’s not a patch on Star sailing!”Above
Lowell with his
two Olympic
medals, one of
them gold, and
some of the
other trophies he
collected over a
lifetime of sailing12 Yachts & Yachting August 2019 yachtsandyachting.co.uk