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16 n e w h a v e n B I Z | N o v e m b e r / D e c e m b e r 2 0 1 9 | n e w h a v e n b i z . c o m T R E N D I N G e Ancient Art, and Space Age Science, of Sailmaking By Makayla Silva M E E T T H E M A K E R G ood sailors can make great business people. At least that's what the founder of North Technology Group, Lowell North, believed. Turning a summer job into a life- long career, Tom Whidden today is part-owner and CEO of North Technology Group in Milford, parent company of North Sails, Southern Spars, Future Fibres, Edgewater Boats, North in Ply Technology (NTPT) and North Sails Collection. "Sailing takes leadership," explains the 71-year-old Whidden. "Whoever is the leader on a boat has to be a strong-minded and confident. Someone who not only has to instill discipline but also be a leader who people will want to work hard for. "And that's identical in business." Founded in 1957 in San Diego by Lowell North, North Technolo- gy Group has grown from a small northern California shop into a leading international sailmaker op- erating with some 3,000 employees worldwide and an annual revenue pushing $400 million. North Sails moved to the East Coast in the 1970s to Mamaroneck, N.Y. before landing in its head- quarters in Milford in the late '80s under Whidden's direction. Whidden's love affair with sailing was launched at age nine on the Long Island Sound shoreline in Westport, where he learned to sail in at Cedar Point Yacht Club. "I loved racing — the indepen- dence, trying to figure out the wind," he says. By age 15, Whidden knew he wanted to be a sailmaker. "I had loy goals," he says. "I wanted to be a sailmaker, I wanted to be in the America's Cup, and I wanted to try for the Olympics." A day on the water is a good day for Whidden — and he has had plenty of good days in his career. Aer graduating from Colby College in Maine, Whidden went to work for the Alcort Co. in Water- bury making Sunfish and Sailfish sailboats. In 1976, "I had a boat called a Finn dinghy (a single-handed Olympic-class sailboat) and I decided to try for the Olympics," Whidden recounts. "I had to quali- fy in the top three in the Northeast region [to advance]. ere were a lot of guys and it was difficult, but I went to the qualifying race on the western end of Long Island Sound and finished first." Whidden did not survive the second round of Olympic trials in Buzzards Bay, but he still accom- plished a key life goal: making a go at the Olympics. Post-Olympic trials, Whidden started his own sailmaking firm, Sobstad Sailmakers International in Old Saybrook. He also began racing larger boats. He found himself in the Southern Ocean Racing Confer- ence during the 1979 season, where he would meet the man who would change the course of his life. "Dennis Conner was getting ready to start a campaign for the 1980 America's Cup and he asked me to join him [on the crew]," Whidden says. "at was my big break." Crewing on Connor's Stars & Stripes in one of the most storied America's Cup regattas, Whidden later competed in a total of eight America's Cup campaigns, begin- ning in 1979 as practice skipper and later as tactician. He was part of the 1987 Ameri- ca's Cup in Perth, Australia that was aired live on ESPN in the middle of the night and watched by millions around the globe. Overall, Whidden was on win- ning Cup teams three times: 1980, 1987 and 1988. He earned induc- tion into the America's Cup Hall of Fame in 2004. Team Connor to Team Whidden Whidden became a leader in the sailmaking industry swily, first as president of Sobstad Sails and later as president of North Sails Group. For five millenia, sailmaking has flourished as both an art and a science. From the Spanish Armada to the America's Cup, harnessing the wind for speed and endurance has changed the course of history. And today, one local sailmaker has pioneered some major advances in sailmaking and made some indus- try history, too. e days of engineering paneled sails in a vast edifice of sail los has evolved into a streamlined tech- nologically-driven manufacturing system, Whidden explains. 'Sailing takes leadership,' says North Sails CEO Whidden. So does managing a high-tech, highly competitive manufacturing concern.

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