Jol Byerley's Jan 06 Letter from Antigua
Since 1979, Judy and I have represented North Sails here in Antigua as we strongly believe that North Sails is one of the best sail lofts in the world. Now you might say that we are rather proud of this. Anyway, it was in 1989 that a young Englishman named Andrew Dove became the General Area Manager for North in the Caribbean. He was based in the rapidly expanding Marina Bas du Fort on the flat side of Guadeloupe. During this time North had enlarged dramatically with their various lofts all over the world, and they made sails in most of the major sailing countries. Their sails could be seen on the majority of the race boats worldwide. So from a relatively small loft in Guadeloupe, North Caribbean has grown to become the supplier of sails to all and sundry and also the cream of the West Indian race boats.
So who is this fellow Andrew Dove? Well, he is now fluent in French and even thinks in his adopted language. He has developed close ties with North Sails, South Africa and of course the “3DL” loft in the middle of America’s Nevada desert. But more about that later. Andrew was born in Romford, Essex just north of London in 1958, and when his family moved to a small village on the River Crouch, his father built him a little Heron dinghy. This meant moving most of the furniture from the living room which rapidly became a boat yard! The Heron was followed by a Mirror dinghy and young Andrew was soon making a name for himself sailing at the Up River Yacht Club. He lived for racing and there was hardly a regatta in the area which he did not attend. Then he was in to 12 Foot Nationals and Merlin Rockets and with them, he started to make his own sails. Now, this fact became known to Keith Musto of Musto and Hyde Sails and soon our young hero was employed full time with what was a major loft in the United Kingdom. But not before he had fallen head over heels with the Merlin /Rocket Class just as I had done many years before. But then his family insisted on a “ proper education”, and despite being offered a job by Musto and Hyde as a sales manager, he toddled off to York University and studied animal behavior!
Several years later, he left York with an Honours Degree only to have the “Volunteer Service Abroad” or VSO send him to the Caribbean island of Montserrat. There he was head of science! After a two to three year period, he moved to Guadeloupe, met Olivia, his wife to be, and started to repair sails for a living. His advertising in those days was “Sails back in three days or repairs for free”. One thing lead to another and North Sails was to move into Guadeloupe. So Andrew worked for them and soon became manager and then area manager. Since his arrival there North has spread over the Caribbean and not surprisingly has made sails for some of the largest most famous yachts that spend their winters in the sunshine.
I asked Andrew the other day what he thought was the biggest advance in sail making. “Has to be the present 3DL” he replied without hesitation. “Now, the material is only made in Nevada and it is stronger, better and longer lasting”. I would agree with him entirely!
So a man with a mission is Andrew Dove! But don’t expect him to slow down if you just want to tell him about how the grass on your lawn grows, or the varnish on your boat deals with tropical sunlight. For someone who thinks in French and speaks in English Andrew’s attitude to life is not surprising. Anyway, if you really want a set of Dacrons or purely cruising main, that is no problem either.
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