Gabier'N'Rigs

Based in Antibes, right next to the harbour, between Cannes and Nice, Gabier'N'Rigs is the rigging and ropework workshop founded by David Penard, who chose the Côte d'Azur as his home port in 1997 after sailing every ocean and spending eighteen years in shipyards across Asia. The company works throughout France and internationally, from cruising sailboats to superyachts, with fully mobile splicing, leather and hydraulics workshops.

Running rigging rests on ropework carried out entirely by hand, simple splices, halyard tapering and halyard and sheet work, backed by a permanent stock of Dyneema, high tenacity polyester, Kevlar, Vectran and PBO. For standing rigging, both textile and metal are worked: 1x19 monostrand, Rod and Dyform cables, traditional 7x7 stainless or galvanised wire, spliced or swaged on a press covering 2 to 32 mm, and stays, backstays and runners in aramid fibre with 17-4 PH stainless terminals. Measurements and technical drawings are produced in house, and ROD rigging receives dedicated follow up.

The hydraulics workshop provides certified servicing and overhaul of rams, seal replacement, reconditioning of power packs and replacement of hose and stainless swaged fittings, on a pressure test bench, along with the fitting of rams for vangs, backstays, mainsail outhauls and halyard tensioning. Deck hardware work covers winch reboring, servicing of winches and deck fittings, and compliance upgrades. Marine leather, full grain and chrome tanned, produces bespoke fender hooks with stainless or aluminium plates lined with sheepskin, wheel covers and block parcelling. For motor yachts and superyachts the workshop adds Spectra and Dyneema slings and strops, towing lines, pilot ladders, safety rails and a substantial stock of mooring lines.

Work is delivered with a certificate of conformity recognised by insurance professionals, backed by load testing and official surveys covering running and standing rigging as well as every type of mast, aluminium, wood or composite. The company is also behind the Manitex, a registered and patented Dyneema textile shackle awarded a special jury mention at the METS show in Amsterdam in 2005.