CLOSE
Sign up to get news on contests, pro events, new products and special offers.
kristin|
|
|
Nevin Sayre joined the World Tour in 1984. |
How did Carbon enter the pro and recreational mast market? I started using carbon masts in 1986 and very soon after other pros begin to follow suit. During the year of 1987, the whole pro tour began to switch over. And from there it trickled down to consumers. At that time, the only option was Neil Pryde masts (made by Fiberspar) or Fiberspar masts. Neil Pryde really got behind carbon and began advocating our masts to go with their rigs.
Was there a period of time that carbon masts and booms really took hold with the general public? In '88 and '89 Pryde's marketing machine really began to push it. Barry Spanier [Pryde's sail designer] was really behind it, too. At the time, I was sponsored by Gaastra. They were only lukewarm about the carbon components, whereas Neil Pryde was fully behind it. What's funny looking back on it now is that I thought the biggest improvement carbon would bring would be in booms. You have to remember that back then we were holding onto these super-wide-diameter aluminum booms and carbon's stiffness could potentially change that. In fact, when Peter Quigly came to me about carbon masts, my initial reaction wasn't too enthusiastic. Nobody really knew anything about things like reflex response. We really didn't think how much carbon would improve rigs until we tried them and then realized the massive sail handling benefits offered by carbon's enhanced reflex response.
Nevin Sayre is a former racing champion, and marketing director for Fiberspar masts, bases and booms. www.fibersparsports.com
Loading ...
