Doyle Sails Expands into Palma with Chris Sherlock at Helm

Chris Sherlock has been announced as the new co-owner and managing director of Doyle Sails Palma extending the global and local business development platform for Doyle Sails International.

Doyle, global leaders in high performance sails as well as a reputation for being proven innovators with new technology, announced today breaking new developments for its presence in the evolving Palma market. Doyle Sails International is owned and led by the team of Mike Sanderson, Richard Bouzaid and David Duff.

Chris Sherlock, world renowned superyacht Captain and Skipper of the many famous Leopard campaigns, has invested into the co-ownership of the Doyle Palma business together with Doyle Sails International, and will lead the Palma business as Managing Director, along with other industry leaders soon to be announced.

Chris Sherlock onboard superyacht Leopard 3 at the finish of the Sydney-Hobart race 

Mike Sanderson, owner and CEO of the Doyle International, commented,
“Since our new leadership announcement back in June 2017, we have been looking closely at all of our key markets and our overall global & local loft presence in order to ensure that we are working with the best people, able to deliver the best technology and products, through the best service in all of our markets. To announce today the new Doyle Sails Palma loft soon to open under the ownership and Managing Directorship of Chris Sherlock is incredibly exciting.

"Our presence in Palma has been under review for some time, given the importance of this location, and the growing number of superyacht and grand prix customers operating out of Palma and the surrounding areas. To have a sailmaker, sailor and superyacht captain invest with us (along with more exciting partners soon to be announced) in servicing the Palma region of Chris’s calibre and experience is going to take Doyle Sails Palma to a whole new level of expertise and experience and one that we are very proud to be working with him on.”

Chris Sherlock started working in the sail making industry at the tender age of 15 working in Fremantle, Australia, before he moved to the UK in 1992 for the Round Britain and Ireland race and never left!

He worked for 25 years continuously with superyacht owner Mike Slade running all of their maxi yacht ‘Leopard’ programmes, racking up an impressive 300,000 nautical miles and over 30 transatlantics, as well as leading an operations and sailing team of 30 people across race events, charters and corporate guest management programmes.

Chris Sherlock, new Co-owner & Managing Director of Doyle Sails Palma, shared his thoughts on today’s announcement:

“I feel very comfortable coming aboard with the Doyle team. I have known David Duff (pictured above, right) since 1994 when we sailed together on Longobarda and Mike Sanderson was instrumental in wind tunnel testing the current Leopard sails in 2006. Richard Bouzaid has been part of the Leopard crew for numerous regattas, so I am delighted by the opportunity to join such a formidable team.

"I have been using the Doyle products for a considerable number of years in some of the most demanding, critical sailing of my career to date. In my mind, you have to stand by your products 100% which I can certainly vouch for as the incoming MD of Doyle Sails Palma.” 

Superyacht Leopard 3 under Captain Chris Sherlock for over 10 years

The Doyle Palma business has been growing over a number of years but its full potential in servicing the fast growing superyacht, grand prix and 50-80 foot cruising and racing market across the board has not been optimized to its full potential as yet. This change in ownership and management and a new focus for the business with a world-class team, that has directly relevant experience and knows what is expected from a service standpoint, will take the business forward to new levels.

Doyle Sails Palma announces addition of Phill Maxwell to its world-class team in role of Shareholder and Sales Director

Doyle Sails added more rapid fire development news today, announcing Phill Maxwell is to join Doyle Sails Palma as Shareholder and Sales Director - only a week after the news was released that Chris Sherlock is the new Business Co-owner (along with the Doyle Sails International team of Mike Sanderson, Richard Bouzaid and David Duff) and Managing Director of Doyle Sails Palma.

Chris Sherlock, Doyle Sails Palma Co-owner & Managing Director and Phill Maxwell, Shareholder & Sales Director

Phill Maxwell is coming 'home' having worked as a sailmaker, sail designer, project manager and salesman for Doyle Sails New Zealand for 8 years since 2008 and has been working in Palma since 2011 so he knows the market place extremely well. One of his highlight projects was to engineer and develop from scratch to operation the "Southern Spars batten car furling boom" interface design for SY Kokomo III.

Phill also established a successful design business in Maxwell & Hall, specializing in technologically advanced aluminium production and design. Phill is an experienced sailor, racing on diverse boats ranging from the world match racing series through to the Superyacht race circuit.

Phill Maxwell developed the "Southern Spars batten car furling boom" on 58.4m Alloy Yachts SY Kokomo III

Chris Sherlock, Co-owner & Managing Director of Doyle Sails Palma, commented on today's news:

"Phill was a key target to join our team from the very moment we started to form the "new" Doyle Sails Palma business. Phill's skill-set is unique as an all-rounder in the industry who is a good sailor, designer and salesman. To have Phill as a partner in growing our business, who knows the Doyle brand, product and our team so well, is a huge asset to ensure a seamless transition for our customers who believe in the Doyle product as much as we do."

Phill Maxwell, new Shareholder & Sales Director for Doyle Sails Palma, added his thoughts:

"It feels totally the right time to be coming back into the Doyle Sails family. The brand has gone through extensive change since I was involved in 2015 and, with the new ownership and management team now in place in Palma, the timing is perfect. I look forward to an exciting future working with this great team and our customers on a diverse range of up and coming projects."

Chris, Phill and Doyle Sails Palma are ‘open for business’ from today! To make contact with them directly, please email or call:

Chris Sherlock

csherlock@doylesails.com 

+34 681 184599

Phill Maxwell

pmaxwell@doylesails.com