Biz Extra
Published: July 26, 2023 | Updated: 25th July 2023
Welcome to the latest Marine Matters from Gallagher.
This month we talk to MD Rob Kemp at Kemp Sails Ltd about his sail making business, beating the Pandemic and providing innovative solutions to the sailing community.
Kemp Sails are based in Wareham and Gosport.
Tell us a little bit about yourself?
I’m married to Juliette and we have 2 children, Angus aged 20 and Imogen aged 24. We live locally in Broadstone.
Imogen is doing a Part 2 architecture Masters Degree in Bristol but also works within the business remotely, doing our social media and web site development.
I was born in Hampton, London. Dad had always been in to boating and the river and relocated the family to Broadstone when I was just 4.
As a youngster I joined Poole Yacht Club and used to go crewing for different club members. Growing up, my father built an Achiles 24 from a kit on the driveway, I loved helping him and getting involved – I’ve always been inspired by that. I also used to go cruiser racing and had an old dingy which I raced.
What was your journey in to setting up your own sail making business?
I left school at 16, I was supposed to be going back to study A Levels but instead approached lots of companies for apprenticeships.
I phoned around local sail makers in Poole and one business, Tabb Sails said that they were looking for a trainee. I was offered a summer job on the condition that I would be happy to stay on as a trainee. I studied for an HNC in Mechanical engineering on day release over 2 years.
I spent 3 years with Tabb sails and left when I was 19. The business had grown exponentially in that time, growing from from 3 staff to 20. At the time of leaving I’d been running the loft side of stuff.
So, in 1985 at the tender age of 19, I left Tabb Sails to set up Kemp Sails. I’d always been inspired by parents and their work ethic and my mother had also been self-employed, they were good role models.
Kemp Sails performed from the outset. The very first sail I ever made was a windsurfing sail for my godfather.
It was humble beginnings for the business….I bought a second-hand Post Office van and painted and branded it and then went out leaflet dropping all the surfers windscreens at Sandbanks.
I’d collect their damaged sails, take them back to the loft for repair and then drop them back the following weekend.
I booked a stand at the Southampton Boat Show, turning up as an unknown company, but I sold 5 sails in ten days which was a great result for me as a new business.
Tell us about Kemp Sails as it is today
Moving ahead 38 years, Kemp Sails is very much a family firm and supplies top quality sails for dayboats, cruisers and racing yachts.
We design using state-of-the-art computer software, with every sail bearing the Kemp logo, being made to the same exacting standings by our team of experienced sailmakers. Their technical expertise is back by practical, on-the-water experience.
At Kemp Sails, we believe in blending modern technology with traditional skills and sail making theory with a sound knowledge of what really works in practice. That way you can be sure your new sails will not only fit well and enhance your boat’s performance, but also give you many years of service.
Many of our staff have been in sail making or in the marine industry for many years. All of our staff sail so they have incredible, individual in depth knowledge and a genuine passion and experience for their trade. When they build a sail they do it with the pride and care, as if it’s their own.
We have sites in Gosport, Hampshire and Wareham, Dorset.
I’m extremely proud that as a UK manufacturing company that we provide quality employment to over 20 staff, a combination of admin, manufacturing staff, both full and part time and that we are adding to the strength of the UK economy.
In 2012, Kemp Sails was chosen as an Industry Champion in Vince Cable’s Department for Business “Make it in Great Britain” campaign.
Our customer demongraphics runs from a tiny little boat on a small budget to some of the bigger swisher multi-million pound boats, with significantly higher budgets and costs.
We hear you also create shade solutions?
Yes, as a business we also make architectural sail shades for gardens, pubs and schools.
Pre-Covid we had a real focus on this and during the hot summer of the pandemic we were inundated with orders, giving us a significant uptake of 25 – 30 percent of sail shades for that season.
Sales have waned off slightly but it’s still a significant part of our business. We’ve even had our sail shades featured on Channel 4’s Grand Designs programme.
How was covid for the business?
Initially covid wasn’t great for us. We weren’t recognised as key workers, everyone was furloughed, with just a couple of people working from home on the admin side.
However, we ended up creating storage bags for the PPE to go in to be sent to hospitals. It was Easter Sunday when we took the order, we started cutting on Easter Monday and had made the first 5,000 by Friday lunch time. During the pandemic we made nearly 40,000 in total, with the bags going to Southampton and Portsmouth Hospitals. This work was key to us surviving covid. It meant that we had the correct status to come to work and could take people off furlough.
During covid, car manufacturers were busy innovating and looking to create solutions and we were asked to work with McLaren, Formula 1 and Jaguar Land Rover and get involved in designing a personal respirator hood for hospital use. The designs never got approved though due to bureaucracy, which was slightly frustrating, but it kept us busy!
We are proud that we won a Design Engineering Award with the Engineering Council for our covid innovations. This was in recognition of our collaborations with MacLaren F1 and University Hospital Southampton
During covid we made a spinnaker for a 97-foot-long sailing yacht, it was huge and so when David Lloyd Leisure Centre was shut, we used the space of 6 of their tennis courts to be able to load it into its sail handling.
