|
    |
 |
      
Registered in England Number: 5254029 Registered Office: 8 Flanders Park, Flanders Road, Hedge End, Southampton, SO30 2FZ |
|
Old Meets New for the Americas Cup Jubilee Week 12/07/2001 Bainbridge International has supplied the Americas Cup fleet for decades and has been at the forefront of sailcloth design for this class. Established in 1917 as Howe and Bainbridge, the company supplied the Classic Cup boats with traditional cotton sailcloth. Bainbridge transformed America’s Cup sails in 1936, when the American boat, ‘Ranger’ successfully defended the prestigious trophy. Bainbridge International, then Howe and Bainbridge, produced the first experimental synthetic mainsail cloth using cordura nylon earlier in the 30’s, which later proved it’s self on board ‘Ranger’ in 1936. During the 1980’s and 90’s Bainbridge continued to supply the AC fleet with cloth, though high tech laminate fabric had now been developed. 1980 saw Dennis Connor defending the trophy as skipper of ‘Freedom’ for the New York Yacht Club. Once again Bainbridge Sailcloth was present in their sail wardrobe, as ‘Freedom’ sailed to victory carrying a Temperkote 3.4oz genoa. 1982, saw Bainbridge introduce state-of-the-art Kevlar weave laminates; these were later seen on both ‘Liberty’ and ‘Australia II’ during the historic 1983 Cup. The USA reclaimed the America’s Cup in 1987 from Australia. Dennis Conner, aboard ‘Stars and Stripes’ sailed to victory using Bainbridge Kevlarweaves and Stabilkote. More recently in the latest America’s Cup Challenge in 2000 many of the boats chose to use Bainbridge Airx™ Spinnaker Cloth. This was seen on the winning boat ‘Team New Zealand’ who were dominant throughout, beating the Italian challenge, ‘Luna Rossa’ to keep the trophy once again. Bainbridge International will also be involved with the Jubilee Regatta later on this summer, when the latest development in sailcloth from Bainbridge, will be present on the Classic 12, ‘Flica II’. The high tech laminate, Diax PP LSP will be used for to make a number of different weight sails including a light mainsail, a Code 1, 2 and 4. Diax PP LSP is approximately two and a half time stronger than high tenacity polyester and in addition offers durability and features up to 40% less stretch than the equivalent polyester fabrics. The sails will be made by the Quantum Sail Design Group, whose Hamble based proprietor and sail designer, Peter Kay has been involved with the sail design for numerous Americas Cup Programmes. ‘Flica II’ will also be using two Airx™ Spinnakers for the Jubilee Regatta; these again have been made by Quantum. The union between classic and high-tech shows that Bainbridge is an organisation that maybe at the cutting edge of developments within the sailcloth industry, but remains focused on traditional values. It can be seen throughout the company's history, Bainbridge International, has been accustomed to supplying the highest quality, highest performance materials in the specialised markets it serves. With a full range of sailcloth, sailmakers hardware products, and a global sales and support network, Bainbridge is uniquely qualified and committed to supplying the world with the finest quality materials. - End - For further information please contact: Hermione Wingate
|
