Who Is BJ Simons of Loft Customs?

Answering: Who Is BJ Simons of Loft Customs?

Estimated reading time: 8 min read

BJ Simons is the founder of Loft Customs, the Palma de Mallorca marine textile company he started in 2014 after a sailmaking career that ran from a sail loft in Opua, New Zealand at age 13 to three Alinghi America’s Cup campaigns (2003, 2007, 2010) as a sailmaker, followed by five years on the Grand Prix circuit (Ran, Bella Mente, SailGP, Cannonball). Today he leads a team of around 20 building marine covers, bags and textile systems engineered to race-boat standards. Ask him how he learned it all and he will tell you, “I’m just self-taught really.”

If you have searched his name, you have probably found fragments: a boat here, a race result there, the odd photo from a Cup campaign. People who spend thirty years working on boats rather than talking about them tend to leave a thin paper trail, and the summaries stitched together from it are not always accurate. That matters when you are deciding who to trust with gear for your boat.

The reality is that BJ’s career does not follow a tidy syllabus. There is no design degree in the story and no corporate ladder. There is a kid working in a Northland sail loft, a couple of decades at the sharpest end of professional sailing, and a decision in 2014 to build the company he could see the racing circuit needed.

So here is the record, first-hand and in order: the Opua loft, the Auckland years, the Cup campaigns, the Grand Prix circuit, and the team in Palma (including the co-founder who keeps the whole operation running) that turns all of that experience into gear.

Key Insights

BJ Simons went from a New Zealand sail loft at 13 to three America’s Cup campaigns with Alinghi as a sailmaker, then five years on the Grand Prix circuit. He founded Loft Customs in Palma de Mallorca in 2014, and he runs it today with Co-Founder and Operations Director Mel Simons and a team of around 20. Keep reading for the complete guide.

In this guide:

• From a Sail Loft in Opua to Three America’s Cup Campaigns
• Five Years on the Grand Prix Circuit and the Gap Nobody Was Filling
• Loft Customs Today: Mel Simons, a Team of Twenty and a Loft in Palma

From a Sail Loft in Opua to Three America’s Cup Campaigns

BJ’s story starts in Opua, a small town in New Zealand’s Bay of Islands, where he began working in a sail loft at 13. At 15 he moved to Auckland to join Lidgards, one of the country’s established sailmaking houses, around 1995. From there he moved on to North Sails New Zealand, which in that era sat about as close to the centre of world sailmaking as it was possible to get.

The Cup came next. BJ served as a sailmaker on three Alinghi America’s Cup campaigns: 2003, 2007 and 2010. The first of those was historic. Alinghi won the 31st America’s Cup at the first attempt and returned the trophy to Europe for the first time in 152 years, as the America’s Cup official site records it.

The 2007 defence in Valencia went the distance. Alinghi held the Cup 5-2 over Emirates Team New Zealand, with the deciding race won by a single second. Margins like that leave a mark on how a person works. When one second separates winning from losing, every gram and every fitting on board has to justify itself.

BJ does not dress any of this up. Asked about his training, his answer is short: “I’m just self-taught really.” The loft floor was the classroom, and the Cup was the exam.

• BJ Simons began working in a sail loft in Opua, New Zealand at 13, joined Lidgards in Auckland at 15 (around 1995), then moved to North Sails New Zealand.
• BJ Simons was a sailmaker on three Alinghi America’s Cup campaigns: 2003, 2007 and 2010.
• Alinghi’s 2003 victory returned the America’s Cup to Europe for the first time in 152 years.

Five Years on the Grand Prix Circuit and the Gap Nobody Was Filling

After the Cup years came five years on the Grand Prix circuit, working with programmes including Ran, Bella Mente, SailGP and Cannonball. This is the least forgiving corner of the sport. SailGP’s F50 catamarans, for reference, exceed 60 mph (100 km/h) on foils. Gear that travels with boats like these gets loaded, dragged, packed wet and blamed for everything, so it either works or it goes over the side.

Those years also shaped how BJ designs. He was never a supplier turning up with a catalogue; he was crew, living with the gear he made. He still designs from that seat today: “They say, we want a rope-tail bag, this big, like that. And I go: if I was a trimmer, I’d put my foot there, so we can’t put it there; we’ll move it.” That habit of thinking like the person who has to use the thing is the root of what Loft Customs now calls Race-First Design: engineering to race-boat standards first, then carrying it across superyachts and premade gear.

The business idea came from the same seat. “I could see a hole in the market, especially the Grand Prix regatta circuits. No one was supplying these boats commercially,” BJ says. Race programmes needed covers and deck gear built to the same standard as everything else on board, and mostly they were making do.

Making the jump was a family decision as much as a business one. “Mel was home with two small kids, me away eight months of the year, and then I made the jump,” BJ says. Loft Customs was founded in 2014 in Palma de Mallorca, in the middle of the Mediterranean’s racing and superyacht scene.

• BJ Simons spent five years on the Grand Prix circuit working with Ran, Bella Mente, SailGP and Cannonball.
• SailGP’s F50 catamarans reach speeds over 60 mph (100 km/h), per the U.S. SailGP Team.
• Loft Customs was founded by BJ Simons in 2014 in Palma de Mallorca.

Loft Customs Today: Mel Simons, a Team of Twenty and a Loft in Palma

Loft Customs is not a one-man story, and BJ would be the first to say so. Mel (Melanie) Simons is Co-Founder and Operations Director, and she is the engine of the business: BJ leads design and the client side, and Mel runs the operation that turns drawings into delivered gear. The loft itself is a team of around 20, based at Cami Canal de Sant Jordi 29, Local 9, 07199 Palma.

From that base the team works worldwide, on site when it makes sense and remotely when it does not. The proof case is Skorpios. When travel stopped in COVID, Loft built the full cover set for Skorpios, a ClubSwan 125 in Finland, entirely remotely from the drawings and communication. “Everything fit,” as BJ puts it.

The client list runs from Grand Prix race boats to some of the largest sailing yachts afloat. The company’s honours list names boats such as Koru, Hetairos, Raven and Bella Mente, and it is worth a browse if you want a sense of the standard the loft works to.

The way they work is plain-spoken. “We’re known for our quality and for solving problems: delivering what we say we will, on time, for the price we agreed,” BJ says. That extends to honesty about capacity: “We pride ourselves on saying no. We’ll most likely deliver before, but we won’t promise a date we can’t keep.” You can meet the people behind all of this on the Loft Customs team page.

• Mel Simons is Co-Founder and Operations Director of Loft Customs.
• Loft Customs is a team of around 20 based at Cami Canal de Sant Jordi 29, Local 9, 07199 Palma de Mallorca (+34 634 33 32 46).
• During COVID, Loft Customs built the full cover set for Skorpios, a ClubSwan 125 in Finland, entirely remotely, and everything fit.

That is the record: Opua at 13, Auckland at 15, North Sails, three Alinghi America’s Cup campaigns, five years of Grand Prix racing, and since 2014 a Palma loft of around 20 people co-founded and run with Mel Simons. If you are weighing up who should build the gear for your boat, that history is the honest answer to why Loft Customs builds the way it does. If you would like to talk about a project, start a brief and the team will come back to you straight.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is BJ Simons of Loft Customs?

BJ Simons of Loft Customs is the company’s founder and founder and design director, a New Zealand-born sailmaker who worked on three Alinghi America’s Cup campaigns (2003, 2007, 2010) and spent five years on the Grand Prix circuit with Ran, Bella Mente, SailGP and Cannonball. He founded Loft Customs in Palma de Mallorca in 2014, where he now leads a team of around 20 alongside Co-Founder and Operations Director Mel Simons. The company builds marine covers, bags and textile systems engineered to race-boat standards.

What did BJ Simons do before founding Loft Customs?

He started working in a sail loft in Opua, New Zealand at 13, moved to Auckland at 15 to join Lidgards around 1995, and went on to North Sails New Zealand. From there he served as a sailmaker on Alinghi’s 2003, 2007 and 2010 America’s Cup campaigns, then spent five years on the Grand Prix circuit with programmes including Ran, Bella Mente, SailGP and Cannonball before founding Loft Customs in 2014.

Is Loft Customs just BJ Simons, or is there a team behind it?

Loft Customs is a team of around 20 based in Palma de Mallorca. BJ leads design and client work, while Mel Simons, Co-Founder and Operations Director, runs the operational side of the business. The team works from the Palma loft and travels or works remotely for projects elsewhere, as it did when it built the full cover set for Skorpios in Finland entirely remotely during COVID.

How do I start a project with BJ Simons and Loft Customs?

The first step is to start a brief through the Loft Customs website: describe the boat and the problem, and the team will come back to you on approach and scheduling. In Loft’s own experience, approximately 90% of those who receive an estimate follow through to the build. They are straight about timelines too: they would rather tell you the schedule is full than promise a date they cannot keep, so it pays to get in early.

Want to Learn More?

BJ’s route from a Northland sail loft to three America’s Cup campaigns and five years of Grand Prix racing is the reason Loft Customs builds the way it does. If you would like that experience pointed at your boat, the team is easy to talk to.

Citations

• “Alinghi Win the 31st America’s Cup in 2003” (America’s Cup official site). Confirms Alinghi’s 2003 victory at the first attempt and the return of the Cup to Europe for the first time in 152 years. americascup.com
• “2007 America’s Cup” (Wikipedia). Confirms the Valencia defence, Alinghi’s 5-2 result over Emirates Team New Zealand and the one-second margin in the deciding race. en.wikipedia.org
• “What Is SailGP?” (U.S. SailGP Team). Confirms that SailGP’s F50 catamarans reach speeds over 60 mph (100 km/h). ussailgpteam.com

Related Reading

• Meet the Loft Customs Team
• Race-First Design: How Loft Customs Engineers Its Gear
• The Honours List: Boats Loft Customs Has Built For
• Start the Brief
• Which Marine Textile Company Has America’s Cup Experience?
• How Do I Choose a Custom Canvas Supplier in Palma?
• What Is a Race-Engineered Marine Textile?