Land Rover BAR, the UK industry and government-sponsored team which is working up to compete in Bermuda next year for the very prestigious America's Cup sailing trophy, had a substantial presence at the recent London Boat Show.
Featured on the team's stand was one of a pair of 6.1-metre RIBs, which have been designed and built to assist in docking and undocking the very fast, and delicate, foil catamaran sailing boats which are being exhaustively tested in preparation for the competition. The RIBs are used as tugs for handling offshore racing yachts, featuring unusual centrally mounted, 360 degree azimuth outboard engines.
The innovative large RIBs were built by a 6-strong team of apprentices from Southampton's Maritime Skills Centre, to exceptionally demanding standards of sustainability. Materials used in manufacturing the craft include flax, and epoxy bonding resins with over 50 per cent polyethylene terephthalate (PET) content. PET is a core material used in the manufacture of plastic bottles; the RIBs each contain a quantity of PET equivalent to that found in 700 such bottles.
In order to safely berth, and unberth, the foil catamarans, the RIBs have been designed to be extremely manoeuvrable. Unusually, they are each fitted with a centrally mounted Yamaha F60 outboard motor, which can be rotated through 360 degrees. This configuration gives the coxswain both excellent visibility, and a high degree of control of the craft when carrying out pushing and towing in confined waters.
Trevor Hollingsbee
