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Ben Ainslie Racing Challenges Spinlock Projects Team

23 Oct 2014

Spinlock are excited to be selected as the Official Technical Supplier of Personal Protective Equipment to the Ben Ainslie Racing (BAR) team, in support of the team in their goal to win the 35th America’s Cup for Great Britain.  

With the partnership spanning three years encompassing the 35th America’s Cup final in 2017, Spinlock will be working with a specialist team at BAR to develop a set of personal protective equipment for the sailors, racing both on the AC45 and AC62.

Spinlock are revealing few details of the special crew protection technology they are developing for the British entry, but they will be incorporating not only essential safety equipment in the design, but also engineering the equipment to allow the crew to perform at the highest level of athleticism. 

In a brief statement, BAR Sailing Team Manager, Jono Macbeth, a three times America’s Cup winner, commented, Protection of the eight crew on the new AC62 absolutely has to be our first concern. Speeds in excess of 40 knots plus are challenging for the sailors, incidents almost a given and managing risk vital. We are especially pleased to be working with Spinlock who we know will be developing equipment to give the crew the peace of mind that they are best prepared for any eventuality, leaving the team focused on racing the boat to the optimum.

BAR crews will be training wearing Spinlock’s new 2015 season ‘WING’ buoyancy aid on-board the Nacra 20, AC45 and Extreme 40, trialling modifications to incorporate into the final PFDs for racing on-board the AC62.

Support crews and guests will be wearing Spinlock’s latest ultra-lightweight Deckvest LITE lifejacket, which offers wearers not only ultimate comfort for long periods, but is coupled with a design that reflects the modern sport of sailing.

Spinlock Chief Executive Chris Hill comments; “Spinlock have a long history with the America’s Cup spanning 40 years with our deck hardware range, with several products in the current range first commissioned for AC Teams. Spinlock entered the market for personal flotation ten years ago using our experience as a design-led company to quickly advance lifejacket design into modern sports equipment. With the BAR Team we will be using the influence of other high speed, high impact and high agility sports to develop personal protective equipment for this new generation of sailing machines.”

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