Tom Rossi Takes the Helm at Hall

Hall, Inc. (Hall Spars & Rigging and Hall Composites) announced this week that Tom Rossi has been named President and CEO of the company effective 27 June 2016. He will be responsible for all Hall operations in the US, Holland and New Zealand.  He succeeds Eric Hall, founder of the company, who will remain as Company Chairman.

Mr. Rossi comes to Hall with impressive credentials. A US Naval Academy graduate, Mr. Rossi is a veteran of 20 years Naval service reaching the rank of Commander before retirement in 2000. Included in his Naval duties was Commanding Officer of the Guided Missile Destroyer USS John Hancock (DD981).

After his Naval career, Mr. Rossi embarked on a distinguished career in the private sector which has included Vice President of Anteon Corporation in Middletown, RI, Executive VP and GM of Caton Connector Corporation in Kingston, MA, and Senior Director of Operations of SRI International Corporation in Princeton, NJ.

“Tom’s proven professional management and leadership skills are ideal for executing our company’s vison of not only maintaining Hall’s respected place in the high performance sailing industry, but also moving our company’s place in the aerospace and other commercial industries to the next level,“ said Eric Hall. “We are really pleased to have found such an energetic and highly skilled person to lead us into the future.”

“In the few short days I have been here, I am impressed with the level of skill, commitment and professionalism of the staff at each of the Hall factories,” said Mr. Rossi. “I look forward to leading this talented team as we take the company to the next level in the sailboat and commercial industries.”

Mr. Rossi and his wife, Joan, have four children - Christina, Mariann, Michael and Andrew - and live in Portsmouth, RI.  

Dick Bolk Joins Hall Team as Managing Director at BV

Broadly experienced in engineering, manufacturing and operations, Hall is pleased to announce the appointment of Dick Bolk as Managing Director at Hall BV in Breskens, NL. "I am very excited to join the Hall team," he said, "I look forward to maintaining and improving the wonderful high-quality products we manufacture." Mr. Bolk lives in Sint Maartensdijk, Holland with his wife Caroline. They have five children and share a passion for sailing.

Hall Yachts Shine at Superyacht Cup in Palma

Hall-rigged Baltic 108 WinWin claimed overall victory at the 2016 Superyacht cup in Palma, in what Captain Clive Walker referred to as a "win-win situation." Walker and his team had previously won the 2010 Superyacht Cup in another Hall-rigged yacht, Jongert 29m Scorpione dei Mari.

Hall BV’s Sven Coster, Pieter Brinkman and Andre Vermeulen were part of the 20-person crew on board Tempus Fugit (pictured above) as the Humphreys designed 90 classic sloop sailed to a Class C victory and second overall.



Oyster 885 Firebird, also a Humphreys design, earned second place in Class C at only her second regatta. Heartbeat, a Hoek 78 Truly Classic, scored third as Hall-rigged yachts swept the Class C podium.

Tripp 62 Launches with Hall Spars

Phil Garland, David Moffet and Lars Svenstrup of the Hall US service team (pictured below) were all hands on deck at New England Boatworks last week for the launch of Tripp 62 café racer Chessie Racing. The yacht is equipped with a high modulus carbon racing mast built at the Hall US facility in Bristol, RI, and Oceanfurl Boom manufactured at Hall NZ in Auckland. The vessel will be based in southern New England for the summer, starting off at the Ida Lewis Distance Race out of Newport, RI, before heading to Fisher Island, Florida for the winter racing circuit.

 

Hall NZ Team at Sydney International Boat Show

Garry Hassall, Dave Ridley and Ron Jacobs from the team at Hall New Zealand will be on hand at the Sydney International Boat Show - Cockle Bay Marina in Darling Harbour and Sydney Exhibition Centre at Glebe Island, Sydney, Australia. The show takes place from 28 July through 1 August.

Hall World Service Now Hiring

SERVICE TECHNICIAN

Hall, Inc. is seeking an experienced Service Technician for its Bristol, RI, USA location. Responsibilities include:

• Field requests for billable service & warranty repairs
• Perform repairs on masts, booms, poles, rigging & vangs wherever possible
• Perform rig and rigging inspections, to include: visual inspections of mast & rigging
• Rig and dress spars in-house and in the field
• Provide documentation of warranty issues so they can be addressed by engineering and/or production on future rigs
• Assist with assembly of vangs, pole ends, spinnaker poles and booms in final assembly when requited by the Production Manager

Please send CV to i.bowen@hallspars.com  

Hall Consistency the Key in Sydney-Hobart

The 2015 Sydney-Hobart race was a good test for Hall products, both new and "seasoned."

Comanche  © Rolex/Daniel Forster

Line Honours went to owners Jim Clark & Kristy Hinze-Clark and skipper Ken Read, as 100-foot supermaxi Comanche crossed the mark in 2 days, 8 hours, 58 minutes and 30 seconds, despite having suffered significant damage from a submerged object en-route to the finish. Hall supplied two key assemblies for Comanche, both having to be 100% reliable in this especially tough race. First was Comanche's monolithic keel ram box. Due to its enormous size and stringent strength requirements, Hall was commissioned to build the keel ram box and cure it in their aerospace-grade autoclave. For the same reasons, Hall was tapped to build the yacht's ultra-strong bowsprit, on which its highly-loaded reaching headsails depend.

Balance  © Rolex/Stefano Gattini

Overall victory at Sydney-Hobart went to TP52 Balance, equipped with a 2004 Hall carbon rig. With this Hobart proving to be one of the roughest on record, the conditions proved a severe test for the "old" rig. Despite its many years of service, the rig came through with flying colors at the top of the podium - a clear testament to Hall's consistency and quality. Hall Spars & Rigging has over 35 years of experience building and maintaining the world's most innovative and high-performance rigs. With three complete manufacturing centers on three continents, Hall pioneered the combination of autoclave curing and Seamless carbon construction.