Michael Coxon
Managing Director
Michael’s sail making career began as an apprentice in 1976 which led to him joining North Sails in 1979 where he was appointed as Manager of the One Design department. In 1984 Michael and Grant Simmer purchased North Sails Australia from the US parent company who entrusted them to expand and develop the company into Australia's leading sail loft.
Michael began his sailing in dinghies and developed his skills early as a champion in Sabots, Manly Juniors, Flying 11’s, 12ft skiffs; where he was twice the interdominion champion, and 18ft skiffs. His love of skiff sailing has continued and as such he has continued his close association with the 18ft skiffs by providing the majority of the sails to the world champions of the years, being principally responsible for the rig and sail designs on the successful “FIAT”, skippered by his name sake and nephew and “GOT TO LOVE IT 7”. These two skiffs have taken out all the major regattas including World Championships in recent years.
Over the years Michael has turned his hand successfully to one design racing winning many championships as both helmsman and crewing with some of the world's best, including Dennis Conner, John Bertrand and Iain Murray in the etchells class and as tactician in the Farr 40 class with highlights including 1st and 2nd in both the Australian and Pre World Championships and 2nd in the World Championships having finished equal on points with the winner.
On the yacht racing scene Michael is acknowledged as one of Australia's most accomplished helmsmen and tacticians by representing Australia at Americas and Admirals Cups. He has competed in 25 Sydney to Hobart yacht races winning both line honours and handicap overall and numerous divisional placings on many of Australians premier offshore yachts including Madeline’s Daughter, Ragamuffin, Sovereign, Exile, Bumblebee, Ichi Ban and super maxi Alfa Romeo.
Michael is Neville Crichton’s sailing master and tactician onboard the 100’ maxi Alfa Romeo which campaigns internationally on the Mediterranean circuit and has taken out the prestigious Maxi World Championship. When not adversaries on the race track, Michael has assisted with tactics onboard Bob Oatley’s maxi Wild Oats XI, a close sister ship to Alfa Romeo.
Richie Allanson
Director
Richie joined North Sails Australia in 1986 where he completed his sail making apprenticeship. He worked his way through the ranks of Production Manager which then continued to Service Manager in the mid 90’s.
His talent and dedication was rewarded with the co-directorship from Michael Coxon in 2001 after Grant Simmers' departure to the Swiss Americas' Cup team, Alinghi. Richie’s role is to ensure that North Sails Australia continues to be at the forefront of sail development in both design and construction.
Richie began his sailing career on Pittwater in dinghies and on the family yacht “Huon Lass”. His sailing career expanded into various offshore yachts at RPAYC including racing on Witchcraft II and Soundtrack. His first overseas regatta success was the 1988 Kenwood Cup aboard the Farr 50 Great News. For a number of years later, Richie joined Warren Johns on Heaven Can Wait competing on the international 50ft circuit.
Richie has participated in numerous other offshore events including the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, the Admirals Cup; where he was part of the 2003 winning team; the Newport Bermuda yacht race, Fastnet and more locally the Audi Sydney Gold Coast and Mooloolaba yacht races.
One design racing for Richie continued into the Farr 40 class and the International Etchells class. Success has included four Farr 40 national championships; 2 a piece with Lang Walker and Marcus Blackmore and one 11 meter National Title Championship. Success has continued for Richie on Lang Walker’s Farr 40 Kokomo seeing podium positions for the 2007 Rolex Baltic Week, Dexia Farr 40 Skagen Week and Rolex Farr 40 European Championships.
From there, Richie began sailing with prominent sailing identity John Bertrand where podium places at national and state events were prominent in their annual campaign in both Australia and New Zealand.
While the excitement of one design racing holds a place in Richie’s sailing career; he can be found regularly on club based boats around Sydney Harbour and Pittwater.
Peter Antill
Sales Executive
Peter and his family founded North Sails in Australia at Palm Beach in the early 1970s. Peter rose through the sail making ranks as Production Manager and then Sail Designer when the business moved to its current facility at Mona Vale in 1979.
Now performing as a Sales Executive and consulting role in the Pittwater region of Sydney, Peter is a popular member of the Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club assisting owners with their racing programs on Sydney 32's and 38's, one design and offshore yachts.
Peter is a champion sailor in his own right with numerous state and national titles. He has largely assisted Steven Ainsworth’s boat Loki to win Australian IRC racing events and podium placing at the 2005 Swan Worlds in Sardinia.
Peter worked closely with Sydney yachts and the sail development for the launching of the Sydney 32 and 38 classes, along with new inventories for Beneteau, X Yachts and Dufour racing models.
With thousands of cruising miles to his credit, Peter has considerable experience with the development of the modern cruising innovations including Leisure Furl In-Boom Mainsail systems, Genoa Roller Furlers, Gennakers and Snuffers for Carbon and Alloy rigs.
Andrew Gavenlock
Production Manager
Andrew is the Production Manager for North Sails Australia and is responsible for the floor work conducted at the loft. He oversees the team of sail makers and manages the busy work schedule.
Andrew joined North Sails Australia in 2000 and worked his way up from sail maker his current role as Production Manager. He spent 2 years working as the One Design Production Manager before overseeing the whole floor management. The time spent in these roles has provided him with a greater understanding of the sail making process and given him a keen eye for detail and quality sail making. When times are busy, Andrew can be found on the production floor helping the guys to get the job done.
Andrew began is sailing in dinghies on the central coast and Lake Macquarie region until he moved to Sydney when he turned 18. Once in Sydney, he began crewing on 16 foot skiffs, 505’s, Finns and OK dinghies where he spent his time sail testing for the local lofts in Sydney.
He later moved in sailing International Etchells in 2002, highlighted by competing in NZ Worlds and the Connecticut Worlds. Nowadays you can find Andrew sailing the local club circuit around Pittwater on a variety of boats.
Geoff Kitchen
Designer
Geoff started his apprenticeship with North Sails Australia in Sydney in 1985. After completing his trade he moved to England to run the service loft for the Whitbread Round the World Race, before gaining a position as a sailmaker for the 1992 America’s Cup with Challenge Australia.
After the cup Geoff moved to North Sails Toronto in Canada as the Floor Manager for one of the biggest production lofts in North America, developing production techniques as well as building sails for some of the high profile French 60 multihulls and other Grand Prix projects. In 1994 Geoff was appointed Head Sailmaker for Sydney’s 1995 America’s Cup challenge before returning to Toronto.
Returning to Australia, Geoff held the position of Production Manager with North Sails Sydney until transferring to the Design Department. In this role he is responsible for the smaller racing yachts and cruising boats across Australia and developing new sails for various One Design classes.
Geoff has had success racing International 14 and Fireball class dinghies and PHRF yachts while overseas and IMS, IRC & Sydney 38 class yachts up and down the east coast of Australia. These days he can be found racing out of the RPAYC on Pittwater, where he’s been a member since 1990, or course racing his Formula class sailboard.
Keith Lorenz
Senior Designer
Keith is the senior designer for North Sails Australia and began his career in sail making in 1978 in Michigan USA with a local sail maker. He later moved onto Hood Sails for a few years and then began working with North Sails at the St Claire Shores loft in 1980 and remained there for 11 years, where he was one of the pioneers of computer sail design for the North Group.
In 1992, Keith moved to North Sails France to work as a sail designer specialising in the design and development of inventories for extreme ocean racing multi hulls and high performance yachts, including the development of asymmetric spinnakers. In 1994 he continued to live and work in France but moved across to working for UK North Sails.
Keith joined North Sails Australia in 1994 where his expertise and experience in high tech sails led to the highly successful North Sails 18ft skiff inventories providing back to back World championships for Australian skippers Eual McNichol, Michael Coxon (2 years running) and Seve Jarvin.
His sails are now used by several of the world's best yachts including Alfa Romeo, Wild Oats XI, Loki, & Ragamuffin along with several entrants in the Whitbread & Volvo Round the World yacht races. The versatility of his role has provided enjoyable opportunities to design for both solo sailors and large scale multihull yachts.
Keith grew up on an island in the Detroit River and his family has always had a sailboat. He has sailed and raced with IOR and one design boats and campaigned a 505 for a couple of seasons.
Julian Plante
Sales & Marketing Manager
Joining North Sails Australia in 2005, Julian is responsible for managing sales and marketing with the aim of continuing and improving the quality sales and service provided. As a Macquarie University graduate in 1994 and again in 2005 with a Postgraduate in Marketing Management, Julian has combined a passion for sailing with a successful career in the marine industry.
Beginning competitive sailing from a young age, Julian has achieved success as a helmsman in dinghies, skiffs and keelboats, with seven Australian championships and four State titles in Etchells, J24’s, NS14’s, and teams racing. Competing on an international front, Julian has participated in numerous World Championships in the etchells and J24 classes, with a highlight being 4th place in the 2004 Etchells Worlds.
While spending the majority of his time “going around the cans”, Julian has also featured in offshore racing with wins on the TP52 “Quest” at Savills and Geelong Race Week, RP60 “Wild Joe” and Sydney 47CR “Jem” at Hamilton Island race weeks, two Pittwater to Coff’s overall and division wins, plus success racing to Southport and various other events.
Future plans include campaigning towards the 2009 International Etchells Worlds in Melbourne, more one design sailing in the Farr 40, Sydney 38 and Sydney 32 classes, along with Hamilton Island Race Week and the usual long offshore racing events.
Alby Pratt
Service Manager
Alby first started with North Sails in 1988 as an apprentice sail maker. Following this he travelled the world competing in major regattas such as the Americas Cup, the formally known Whitbread Round the World race; now Volvo Round the World, three times, Admirals Cup and just about every other major race available.
During this time he also worked in many other lofts in New Zealand, the USA and the UK gaining a huge amount of sail making experience.
He rejoined North Sails Australia in 2003 taking on the role of Service Manager and coordinating many of the major boat projects including Bob Oatley’s 98ft Wild Oats XI on which he also crews as the sail coordinator and trimmer.
Alby works closely with the sales and marketing team to ensure a quality service and product is delivered to its customers. One of Alby’s major roles is to manage the servicing of customers sails through the manufacturing process from initial order to final quality inspection
Over the coming year Alby will be competing in many events both in Australia and overseas on many different types of boats.
Billy Sykes
Assistant Production Manager
As the Assistant Production manager, Billy’s role is to ensure that the loft floor production work runs smoothly, by guiding the qualified staff in their areas of work and training up the apprenticeship holders.
Billy is also responsible for the North Sails Quality Assurance Program, where he reviews products and production with the designers and staff to ensure quality control is maintained and delivered to the customers.
One of Billy’s key responsibilities is to monitor the sail deliveries from the Sydney and Sri Lankan lofts to ensure quality control is maintained and delivered to the customers.
Billy commenced his sailing at 6 years of age on his dad’s yachts and hobie cats. After completing his HSC, he took up sailing in more offshore events on Farr 40’s including Shockwave, Kokomo and Rushcutter and 60 footers including Yendys and Loki. More recently Billy can be found sailing on Geoff Ross’s Reichel Pugh 55 and Graeme Wood’s Farr 40 Wot Now. Billy has just finished sailing his 5th Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race.
Susan Veal
Sales & Marketing Coordinator
Susan is the newest staff member to the North Sails Australia team. Having graduated from Victoria University with dual Sports & Recreation Management qualifications, she specialised in sports facility management for RMIT University and the YMCA for a number years. After a stint in sports training program management with the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra, she then merged her passion of sailing with sports administration.
Working for a number of years at the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia as a sailing administrator; completing on course race management entry paperwork, safety and race requirements for major blue water ocean races including the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, the transition to North Sails was only fitting.
Working as the Sales & Marketing Coordinator, Susan’s aim is to ensure the North Sails marketing message reaches all audiences and ensures that quality services and products are delivered.
Starting her sailing at a young age with her brothers in sabots, she moved through to sailing International 420’s in her teens. After a short break from the sport while studying at university and working interstate, her past 6 years in the sport has primarily been spent racing Thompson 7’s & Melges 24’s in Australia and overseas. More recently she has dabbled in the Women’s Match Racing scene and assisted with deliveries of Ichi Ban; Farr 40 and Volvo 70 interstate.