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Lidgard
One of the most successful New Zealand sailors and sailmakers, Jim Lidgard died suddenly yesterday in NZ of an apparent heart attack.
The passing away of Jim Lidgard has left a huge hole in the sailmaking industry and an even larger one in the sailing community of New Zealand. The son of Vic and Sylvia Lidgard , Jim was successful as a sailor winning the World 18 ft. title and the Kenwood Cup in Hawaii in 1986. Even recently with his family aboard, he steered his family Mullet Boat to win the prestigious Lipton Cup, an annual event held in Auckland. Jim's achievements will always be seen as that of an innovative sail designer and sail maker. His achievement of designing and building sails for the late Peter Blake's Ceramco NZ set the stage Jim to step into the International limelight. With wins in the Kenwood Cup, Jim was asked to manage the sail program for NZ's first America's Cup Challenge with KZ 7 back in 1987. This lead to Jim designing and building sails for the victorious NZ Endevour in the 1993-94 Whitbread Round the World Race., managing the Tag Heuer sail program for Chris Dickson's 1995 Americas Cup Challenge, and then the Kvanaer Innvotion for the 1997 Volvo Ocean race. In 1995 Jim met with Andy Halsey and they combined their businesses under the very respected name Halsey Lidgard sails Jim also pioneered CAD design programs for sail design and many companies world-wide use his program for sail design. This subsidiary, Sails Science, boasts a large following in the sail- making industry. A quiet man by nature and perhaps one of the most underrated sailors and sail designers in the world, Jim Lidgard will be sorely missed. 07/28/03 |
