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From rock walls to rigging, meet Bryce Voderberg

Doyle Sails and Fabrica announced a powerhouse partnership last week, an association that requires seamless collaboration between both Doyle Sails and Fabrica rigging and engineering experts. Overseeing the innovation, design and development of the Doyle Sails Rigging department is Bryce Voderberg, an Oregon, USA native that grew up in a small mountain town called Bend before moving to New Zealand in 2009 and taking up a career with Doyle Sails. Meet Bryce.

Bryce’s journey to where he is today was slightly less traditional than you might expect from a rigging expert in the marine industry. With a landscape designer as a father, who had a construction business specialising in building large rock walls, Bryce was introduced to the company early. Setting giant boulders one at a time was the niche, and Bryce and his brother spent their time working out how to rig up ways to lift these gigantic rocks with the large machinery.

The brothers’ first experience with sailing was equally unique when they unassumingly accepted payment for a rock wall in the form of a 16′ Coronado when they were at high school. Bryce and his brother felt like they had made the trade of a century; however, what transpired was a very ‘well loved’ yacht that needed some work. Fortunately for the brothers, the sails were tidy, but the rigging and hull was another story.

A relationship with the people at the local industrial rigging shop was quickly formed, with the staff becoming teachers. Bryce was beginning to learn the skills that would eventually lead him to be a well sought after rigging expert.

The local rigger taught Bryce how to crimp eyes in 3mm wire. The brothers gathered as much boatbuilding knowledge and information that they could retain before taking on the mammoth task of laminating the top deck back to the hull and resetting the chainplates.

Once completed, it wasn’t much, but it got the brothers onto the water and into the sailing scene in the high Cascade Lakes.

Bryce then went on to sail with friends in university but was never introduced to racing until he moved to New Zealand, one of the great sailing hubs of the world. Following a friend’s lead, Bryce successfully applied for a role as an apprentice sailmaker at Doyle Sails in 2011, where he began to work with the Auckland based sailmakers; his first tasks were to learn how to stick and sew Finn sails.

Living close to the water was a new concept for Bryce, who was far more comfortable in the mountains of Oregon than on the shores of the city of sails. An adventurer at heart, it wasn’t long before Bryce began to step into the water sports he is now so passionate about, including kiting, sailing and surfing.

With passion and experience in rigging, Bryce took the opportunity to shift from sailmaking to the Doyle Rigging team, which was expanding at a rapid rate and began rigging, re-rigging, splicing and completing repairs. With interest in marine rigging growing, Bryce took an opportunity to complete a Rigging Apprenticeship with RigPro, a qualification that Doyle Sails wasn’t offering. With RigPro, he completed his apprenticeship in record time and maintained large refit projects alongside travelling extensively to troubleshoot, repair and rig yachts throughout the South Pacific, Asia and USA.

Bryce returned to Doyle Sails after five years with RigPro and with a wealth of knowledge and experience in tow. Bryce now heads the Rigging team for Doyle Sails New Zealand and oversees the innovation, design, build and implementation for cables and slings for many projects.

The partnership with Fabrica will continue to push the boundaries with two companies that hold innovation at the core of their business ethos. The incredible opportunity presented is hard to ignore, with the ability to work with a composite rigging production workshop and design and develop custom Doyle Sails x Fabrica products together.

ABOUT DOYLE SAILS // Around the world, Doyle Sails has over 500 sailmakers in 46 different locations, all equally passionate about sailing – living and breathing our ethos ’Global Leaders and Local Experts.’

As sailors, our obsession with sailing connects us to the water. The water is our playground, a sanctuary where we seek enjoyment, a competitive playing field where we race as competitors; it’s sometimes our home and always a place that unlocks our sense of adventure wherever that adventure might take us. Behind every adventure is a Doyle sailor who shares this same obsession as you. We put your journey at the very heart of what we do to deliver the ultimate enjoyment and performance, powering our constant need to push the boundaries in sail design and innovation, to reimagine sailing.

From dinghies, club racers and cruising yachts through to Grand Prix campaigns and Superyachts, we are your experts. Meet our team here.

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