Doyle Sails

Summary: Doyle Sails is committed to customer satisfaction.

Founded in: 1982

History Highlights: Founded by Robbie Doyle in Marblehead, MA.

Number of locations worldwide: 70 locations in 30 countries

Known For: Personal attention to customers.

Tech Note: Code Zero asymmetric spinnakers, D4 fiber-membrane manufacturing process, and Stratis, a technology for load-path, laid-fiber sails.

We spoke with Robbie Doyle, founder and President/CEO of Doyle Sails, who told us, "I've been making sails since I was 13, so 47 years of experience is what goes into our product line. And cruisers can benefit from that as well as racers." Here's what else Robbie had to say:

On sailing, sailmaking, and plans for the future:

"Superyachts are ... going to slow down, because of the economy, but they're going to still be built. We've got a global economy, so if you're somebody with a good idea, you can now market it to the world, so wealth is still being created, and people can afford these big boats. And with the green concerns, there's nothing greener than the wind, compared to motoring. So I see this as a continuing market.

"The middle market is what's gone soft – you know, someone with a 42-footer now trying to get their kids through college. But with people wanting to make sailing easier, I see this market as still having potential.

"The mid-level racing and that type of market has really gone a lot smaller and been replaced with one-design racing. And then you've got the real straight-out professional ocean racing. Bermuda race, Halifax – that's all coming on strong."

"We want to make sure we cover the world in a nice balance so we can service people all over the world. We have manufacturing in China that's actually run by a dual loft; we have manufacturing in Barbados which is competitive with China; the European lofts are doing a great job servicing all their markets. So we're not looking just to maximize the number of lofts around the world. It’s a great challenge to communicate and coordinate this large number of lofts, and we want to be sure and maintain quality."

On what sets Doyle apart:

"We're one of the real leaders in the Superyacht market as well as in one-design. I think it's the scientific approach that has helped us with both ends of the extremes. The engineering approach, the scientific approach, really helped us settle into the Superyacht market before anyone else did.

"We're running 3D modeling; it absolutely could not be run except on supercomputers even two years ago. We're using Computerized Fluid Dynamics, or CFD; my son, Tyler Doyle, got his PhD on that from Stanford. My son's thesis was on the [sailing superyacht] Maltese Falcon and optimizing the fluid dynamics. Now Tyler is in charge of our Research and Engineering.

"We used a similar type of analysis for studying the Mirabella 5 [the largest single-masted yacht in the world]. No sails had ever been built at even half that size. Even to go about developing a quote and deciding how it could be done, the modeling was critical.

"Even though in our early days were primarily a racing sailmaker because that's my personal pedigree, we've now combined very modern sail technology and made it accessible for the cruiser. ... Our goal for cruisers is to make the sail-handling easy and we've patented the StackPack to help with the ease of sail-handling.

"Nowadays, I'm 60, and probably my best racing days are behind me, unless maybe as a tactician on one of the big boats. So for me, the fun of going daysailing is what I truly enjoy as well as cruising."

Proprietary Technology:

"Computerized Fluid Dynamics (CFD) Modeling. It's a completely different approach than it was 10 years ago. It's much more exacting. And the materials need to be more exacting as well. If you're going to design it to such exacting standards, you want the materials to support it.

"... We've been very successful in one-design. I said to the team, we need to compete at the top levels. And for one-design, the Olympics are the top. What happens is the Olympics committee changes the boats every few years. ...

"Probably the most daunting one to jump into has been the Star, because it's been around since the 1920's and has a lot of established players. So we weren't going to just jump in the old-fashioned way; we studied it with CFD, and we were able to literally start the process at a level that would have taken us 3 years to reach under the old way. We came out of the gate with sails that were absolutely competitive with the best in the world.

"So the technology we've developed for Superyachts also helps us with our one-designs, for different reasons.

"StackPack: When we developed that, in those days you could have a couple of options for a mainsail handling system, and they both had their problems. You could either have a roll-boom, or there was a system where you could bag the main on the mast. Now at that time with these systems, you couldn't have battens in the mainsail, and the main just does not want to hold its shape without them, especially not going upwind.

"Now with our development of the StackPack, you could have the perfect shape of the main, and then literally drop the halyard and everything would fall into its own cupboard, which is what the StackPack does.

"Shortly after that, roll-booms began to show some improvement; but the reality is, on a 35-foot boat, the StackPack is another $3500 or so, but the roll-boom is heavy, and will probably cost you more like $35,000. So on the really big boats, the roll-boom is an option, but for a smaller boat, I really think the StackPack is a better technology."

Key Take-Aways:

"It's a nice thing about the structure of the lofts we have. We have a combination of corporate-owned and franchise lofts, and these guys own their own business. They're extremely experienced sailors and sailmakers.

"And I think our staff is experienced, as well. We sail-makers were providing a lot of the sailing professionals to the world, before. They'd come and work in a loft for a few years, and then try to make it big in professional sailing. Now, the top young sailors are going straight to professional sailing. So we've built our staff with engineers, rather than young sailors coming out of college. With our young staff, now we go for the engineering talent – and they're staying around. So it's been a big change, but the right one."