49er sailing continues to professionalize and as we get more opportunities to race on camera, there is some prime sponsor space that can be taken advantage of. That is the spinnakers! For years now SEIKO branding spinnakers have been a feature at our major championships. The big difference in these sails is that the branding is sewn into sails at the factory. The brand is put into the computer design of the spinnaker and then the seams are adjusted so that the shape remains constant. This allows for no decrease in performance while your sponsor gets some amazing exposure. And best of all, the quality of work is excellent and the cost of work is minimal.
So sailors, it’s time to really show your professionalism and get ready for the 2013 season… get your sponsors onto your spinnakers!
There are some things you’ll need to know to do this properly:
- Order these kites through your normal dealer.
- Allow for 2 months to be safe. Custom kites need time to get through the supply chain, so be prepared.
- Only normal colors are available… it’s not like we can buy new rolls of material for your custom color, so you’ll have to make do with the standard set of colors
- Finalize your artwork first. It takes quite a bit of time to adjust the seams of the gennaker for a design. Please do your homework before you request the work by our sailmaking team, don’t use them as a sounding board for ideas, otherwise it will get more expensive for everyone.
- Prepare your artwork as well as you can, but sureness is best. Even a pencil sketch, a color and a font can be enough… but if you want something more complicated, have it drawn up.
If you work with our class sailmakers you will not have any problems, but if you decide to cut a brand into your sail after it’s built, be sure to follow the class rules. Ovington offers this service to already built spinnakers with lead times as short as 2 weeks.
- Class rule C.10.4 GENNAKER(a) MODIFICATIONS – The gennaker may be modified by having graphics cut in, which shall not extend within 1000 mm of the head point or tack and shall not extend into the two outer panels or the luff, leach or foot. Such actions may not alter the original shape of the sail
That it, that’s all… lets make this happen!
