Phillips Sailmakers and Awning Manufacturers, East Shirley Street, Nassau, has been named regional dealer and service provider for world-renowned Elvstrom Sails of Denmark. Larry Phillips, ABYC, a marine surveyor as well as sailmaker, started the business just over 30 years ago with a borrowed sewing machine loaned by the late sailing legend Robert H. ‘Bobby’ Symonette. Today, the company has a staff of 10, including Manager (and daughter) J. Brooke Phillips. (Photo courtesy of Cay Focus Photography)
Elvstrom Sails, one of the world’s top ranking designers and builders of racing and cruising sails, has named Nassau-based Phillips Sailmakers its service point for a broad region with the closest similar appointment in Seattle, Washington, nearly 3,000 miles away.
A second smaller service point has been established in Antigua.
“After nearly 30 years of designing and building sails and a lifetime passion for everything boating, being named the representative for the legendary global sailmaker Elvstrom Sails is a distinct honour,” said Phillips Sailmakers & Awning Manufacturers founder and President Larry Phillips, ABYC.
“From the time I can remember, the name Elvstrom has been synonymous with racing. Paul Elvstrom wrote the rules book that is still used today in sanctioned races around the world. The tradition and legacy he created in bringing order, sportsmanship and a road map to sailboat racing changed the course of the sport forever and I am extremely humbled by having been selected to carry the name Elvstrom.”
The partnership means Phillips Sailmakers on East Shirley Street becomes a dealer for new Elvstrom Sails along with servicing Elvstrom’s superyacht and blue water racing and cruising sails in its 6,000 square foot loft. Phillips Sailmakers is one of only Sail-and-Service Points for the Danish-headquartered sailmaker founded by Elvstrom in 1954.
Although Elvstrom has grown into a worldwide brand and its founder has gone on to win four Olympic gold medals in sailing in addition to other titles, the stories of how both sailmakers got their start are eerily similar. Elvstrom began with a single sewing machine in the basement of his childhood home. Phillips started with a sewing machine loaned to him by the late Bahamian sailing legend Robert H. ‘Bobby’ Symonette, setting up at first on his mother’s back porch and later in the sail loft left by the Victory Syndicate at Nassau Shipyard when they trained in Nassau for the 1984 America’s Cup trials.
“Larry Phillips’ name came up repeatedly during our conversations with sailors and other industry leaders in the Caribbean and in the U.S.,” said Elvstrom Sails CEO Niels Bjerregaard.
“We are very pleased to welcome Phillips Sailmakers to the Elvstrom family as we continue our deliberate and careful expansion into those parts of the world where blue water cruising and superyacht sailing are increasingly popular. The Bahamas and Phillips Sailmakers are ideal fits and we hope that this will give more exposure for Elvstrom Sails on the east coast of the United States as well as in The Bahamas and further south in the Caribbean.”
Elvstrom Sails is headquartered in Aabenraaa, Denmark and has subsidiaries in England, Norway, and Mallorca, Spain. Phillips Sailmakers, like Elvstrom Sails, does all custom work, handling marine canvas, Bimini tops, dodgers, sail shades, but also does commercial and residential awnings and has a contingent of AWS (American Welding Society) certified welders.
Larry Phillips and J. Brooke Phillips
Source: Diane Phillips & Associates
