Building the Big Rigs - Inside Southern Spars

The incredible growth in the size of superyachts and the rapid increase in speeds aboard the world's fastest machines has been staggering. And while modern design and materials have played a huge part in these areas, there is one element that has been crucial to these giant leaps and made it all possible - the rig. In particular, carbon rigs, without these the sport would still be pressed up underneath the glass ceiling that trapped development back in the 1980s. New Zealand based Southern Spars have built many of the biggest and quickest carbon rigs in the world and their success isn't just with boats, they've been involved in all kinds of areas ashore and even regular forays into space! With such an impressive roll call of results it was clearly time to make a visit to Auckland where Matt Sheahan got the full tour. In the first of our two part mini series, Matt finds out why carbon was the key and how Southern Spars build the big rigs, the fastest rigs and rigs of the future. Chapters & Links 00:00 Intro 02:50 Mark Hauser on Southern Spars background 04:53 Build process - Where does it start? 06:26 On the Shop floor 07:57 More on design 08:49 Back on the shop floor 12:11 ETNZ's Martin McElwee on the influence of the America's Cup 13:11 Shop floor - Painting and final stages 16:01 Beyond mast making Facebook - @planetsail.org Website - www.planetsail.co.uk Linkedin - www.linkedin.com/in/matthew-sheahan Instagram - matthewsheahan