Minden company sailing onto TV's Science Channel

The majority of customers for sail manufacturer North Sails likely have never seen the inside of the company's expansive factory near Highway 395 in Minden.

That could change on Friday when the Science Channel program "How It's Made" features North Sails for a four-minute, 40-second segment in a look at how sails are shaped and stitched together. The program airs at 6 p.m. Oct. 30 on Channel 109 in Carson Valley.

North Sails, a company with locations in more than 20 countries with its largest in Minden, allowed a camera crew to film inside the factory in March.

It's there where North Sails manufactures sails for racing sailboats and luxury yachts, said J. Brandon, the quality assurance manager for the Minden factory, which does $50 million worth of business a year and employees about 100 people.

"How It's Made" will document the start-to-finish process a sail goes through.

The sails, some as large as 7,000 square feet, can weigh a half ton and carry a price tag into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. They are first designed by computers to determine how they will hold up in various wind strengths.

The sails start out as molds that are positioned by rows of robotic lifts. Layers of plastic adhesives, carbon-fiber yarn and other materials are pieced together, heated and then cured over a period of days.

The entire process can take weeks until the finished product is folded, placed into a box and shipped by truck to the nearest airport.

Inside the factory, workers stitch a finished sail on top of a plywood loft - the traditional name for areas where sails are made - while others help guide a machine as it places miles of high-strength yarn back-and-forth across another sail.

For some perspective, Brandon said the carbon-fiber yarn costs $50 per pound.

While the company is focusing on orders for next year's America's Cup race, Brandon also said business has been affected by the global recession.

"We're not immune to changes in the economic environment," he said. Still, those with the money - and usually lots of it - are still spending it on their hobbies, Brandon said.

Jeff Spencer, 23, who grew up in Douglas County and had never worked on a sail in his life, got a job with North Sails five years ago after graduating from high school.

While he admits it's hard for the desert- and mountain-bound sail-maker to attract workers from coastal regions where sails are usually manufactured, Spencer said he has worked on dozens of sails used by teams racing in the America's Cup.

"Most of the sail makers enjoy sailing," Spencer said.

Which is why Brandon said most of the sails that North Sails manufacturers leave Nevada and the country.

"We import money," he said.