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Dick Batt  –  on the birth of the enduringly distinctive BATT SAILS logo.

It’s February 1980………….

WE’RE JUST BACK from several years in New Zealand and planning our very own sail making business. We found premises we could afford to rent in a lovely old Victorian boat house on on the Berkshire bank of the Thames at Maidenhead.  I was making the first ever ‘Batt’ sail for the OK Dinghy showing at the 1980 RYA Dinghy Show at Crystal Palace.

WITH GREAT PLANS for our future these were exciting times and we needed the right identity to show to the World.

MY SAIL-MAKING LIFE had started with Bruce Banks Sails, near the River Hamble. My own sailing started at Hamble River Sailing club and continued there while I was at Southampton University.   After graduating I leapt at an offer to work the rest of the summer at Bruce Banks Sails – a lowly holiday job that unexpectedly turned into a career in sail design and sail making.

THE  BANKS SAILS LOGO, comprising two solid black triangles always impressed me with its graphic simplicity.  In particular,  its edges and sharp angles always showed up well on the water and perhaps more importantly in photos.

I WANTED A LOGO that matched or exceeded this.  I believe we succeeded big time and no-one has ever failed to identify our logo as a cheeky, flighty,  stylised bat.

JUST THREE TRIANGLES it ticks all the identity boxes, all the distinctive boxes and all the style boxes. For over forty years we’ve been been proud to see it represent what we do.

A FINAL THOUGHT.………Unknown to many,  I’m a proud Yorkshireman, a race known for our frugal, parsimonious ways.

I take great delight from the thought that, when we choose to,  we can cut hundreds of  ‘Bat’ logos nested against each other without wasting a scrap of material.

And a bat just had to be black. Over the years we’ve saved a fortune on colour printing.

Perfect!!

Dick Batt.
January 2024

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The  2019 RYA Dinghy Show had the best turnout for years, kicking off the new season with a real buzz.  It was great to see John Smithers’ Yawl 19 looking a treat and taking pride of place in the main hall.