Company Profile - SailScience History
SailScience was founded in Auckland New Zealand in 1983 by sail designer Jim Lidgard and Grant Christie who has a Doctorate in scientific engineering.
Jim Lidgard, a pioneer in computerised sail design, had developed his 2 dimensional, numerical, design system to the point where 2D had reached its limits. Another consideration was the escalating cost of development which had increased to $15,000 per annum in step with the ever increasing demand and market pressure for excellence and performance of product.
The next step, 3 dimensional design, was a very large step especially cost wise, and at that point the decision was made to form a company separate to Lidgard's sail manufacturing company.
The new company would design and write software which could be used inhouse and also be sold to other sail manufacturers to help finance future ongoing development of the system.
Dr Grant Christie had spent the previous several years developing and writing a stress analysis program with which he was a pioneer in the development of heart valves.
At that time he consulted to the world's leading heart valve manufacturers, supplying them with the exact elasticity required for the valve's structure to interact with a patient's blood pressure.
As he had an interest in yachting and yacht sail design, Dr Christie had also developed his program to the point where he could analyse the effect of wind pressure on a sail's surface.
At that time his program was a world leader and the potential of could be seen interacting with a future 3D sail design program.
Subsequently, a threesome was formed, with Doctor Peter Jackson, head of Auckland University Yacht Research Unit, also becoming a minor shareholder in the Company. Peter was to go on and develop the University Wind Tunnel with its twisted flow facility, and to be involved in most of New Zealand's Americas Cup campaigns.
The Computer
The first decision to be made was which type of computer to run the system on, the IBM type PC or Apple Macintosh, a new breed with a very high resolution screen and a very user friendly operating system whose main interaction was via the mouse.
The Macintosh was chosen for those two primary reasons: its user friendliness was essential as most sail designers had thus only to concentrate on sail design rather than have any real computer literacy or key board skills.
Creating a 3D Design System
Initially it was thought that it would only take 6 to 12 months before the first commercially accepted version of the design system would be released, but this was to prove wrong. It would not be for another 3 long years before they were finally released.
Part of the development
process was for Jim Lidgard to take the programs to the 1986-7 America's
Cup in Fremantle where some of the most successful sails of the BNZ New
Zealand Challenge were designed, plotted and used on their 12 metre yacht
"KZ-7".
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