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A New Era for Tasar NA

There’s a new builder in Tasar town. As of Oct. 18, 2006, the license to build Tasar Class dinghies in North America passed from Alvis Marine in Vancouver, BC, to Cascade Yacht Builders in Portland, Oregon. Master boat builder John Evetts is retiring after 35 years in the business and handing the torch over to James Farwell of Cascade Yachts. Sales and marketing of the boats and related hardware will henceforth be handled by George Yioulos of West Coast Sailing, also in Portland.

George and James

So, what does this all mean to Northwest Tasar sailors? I sat down to talk with James and George shortly after they arrived back in Portland with a very large rental truck full of molds, jigs, spars, and boxes of parts; virtually all of Alvis Marine’s Tasar-related inventory. I asked the obvious question: Why?

“Tony Norris kept bugging me about how great the Tasar was, so I bought one and went sailing on it,” said George. “Now I know how cool the boat is and how much fun it is.” Subsequently, George started boning up on Tasar history and getting acquainted with fleet members throughout the Northwest. By the time he showed up at the AGM meeting in Seattle last fall, his mind was pretty much made up.

“I heard from a lot of people who were very protective of this boat and very anxious to see it supported well,” George said. “They were treating it kind of like one of their children. These are people that want to see this boat succeed and want to see new people experience this boat. It doesn’t have a large corporation behind it backing it up. It’s got sailors; that’s it. I think it’s fabulous.”

Since taking over the Portland area Vanguard Sailboat dealership less than two years ago, George has established a reputation for outstanding customer service and legendary enthusiasm. In addition to Vanguard, West Coast Sailing reps Performance Sailcraft, (builders of the Byte, MegaByte, and 29er), the McLoughlin Optimist, and, now, the Tasar. I asked George and James what they thought they could bring to their newest line of sailboats.

“I actually think we can find a lot more life in that design package, in terms of improving strength, increasing longevity, and streamlining production,” said James. “We know that John Evetts was building a quality product, and we would like to make sure that we continue to do that and possibly even make a better product.”

Cascade Yachts, which builds a full line of cruising sailboats from dinghies to 42-ft circumnavigators, has, under James’s leadership, ventured into custom composite laminates, and now fabricates everything from aircraft parts to wind generator blades. He has been studying new production techniques which he hopes will help improve quality and reduce the cost of building Tasars. For example, he is contemplating the purchase of a CNC (Computer Numerical Control) router to cut the foam, fiberglass, aluminum, and wood components. “It would simplify the fabrication of all the parts,” said James. “I believe quite a number of assemblies could be mechanized.”

One area in which James expects to see immediate cost savings is spars. These are currently being supplied by Sapa Profiles, Inc., one of the world’s largest manufacturers of aluminum extrusions, which happens to be right around the corner from Cascade Yachts. “We know that we’ll be able to provide those for a better price because we don’t have to import them into Canada, then back into the U.S.; I can import them from 20 blocks from my shop.”

Although James and George say they are ready to take orders immediately, their game plan is to build hull number one this February and use it as a prototype. “It’s the boat you have a learning curve on,” said George. “Sort of a loaner boat. Anyone can take it out and beat the heck out of it, ding it up, crash it around, whatever, and see if it holds up the way it should. And once that boat’s been around and people have seen it, we’d like to fly it to Worlds in 2007 and get it measured, have some of the class members look at it, and certify that it’s good to go. At that point, we can say with confidence we’re building a light, strong, stiff boat and go into accepting orders on a rolling basis.”

As part of the agreement, John Evetts of Alvis Marine will be on hand to oversee production of the first boat “in order to make sure the knowledge transfer occurs from John’s experience to James and his guys,” according to George. “We want to get this right. The class is demanding it.”

The class is also demanding some relief on the cost of the boat, which has recently ballooned up to nearly $12,000 US. Although final pricing is yet to be determined, pending validation of specific production costs, James and George say they are aiming at a “very aggressive price target.”
“The sub $10,000 boat is the holy grail,” George said. “That’ll take a lot of efficiencies, and obviously if we can produce more boats, modernize the production a little bit, efficiencies will go up to where we could hit that price point.” James is cautionary. “It will be a bit of a stretch,” he said. “We would love to do it, but can we? I don’t know. We’ll have to find out.” Stay tuned.

Meanwhile, Tasar sails, blades, spars parts, and used boats are available now and can be purchased at West Coast Sailing’s online store. “At this point we have 90% of the parts for the boat in stock,” George said. “Those that we don’t have we are working on finding a supplier to get them designed and fabricated.” George said he is currently getting inquiries from as far away as Denver and Maine, and orders for parts in stock usually ship the same day.

The new Mylar sails are still being purchased in batch orders of 20. The first order is full and George is now taking pre-orders for a mid-February purchase. He hopes to have sails in stock by June. He also plans to market rigging assemblies (vangs, etc.) as complete kits, similar to the way Laser parts are packaged.
Service is key to James and George’s strategy for success in the Tasar class. “If we want people to buy our boats, then they need to be assured that they can get parts and support,” said James. “It’s my expectation that, by separating the building from the selling of the boat, we’ll see a marked increase in the quality of service.”

“I feel like we can service the class at least at the existing level and hopefully at many notches above that,” said George. “The class has wanted to promote the boat but didn’t really have a means to do it. They didn’t have someone who’s talking about Tasars every day, someone a customer can call seven days a week and get the scoop on this boat. Now, you’ve got effectively two companies behind it who are excited about this and who do this for a living. That is hopefully a very powerful thing.”

Powerful indeed. Hearing James and George talk about Tasars, it’s impossible not to get excited. Here’s wishing them all the best as they lead the Tasar Class in North America into an exciting new era.

Bill Symes

Posted 2007-01-17

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