BMEA

B&G has been appointed an Official Sponsor by Skandia Team GBR and is supplying a complete suite of electronics for the RIB that will work with the crews to help them prepare for major events in Weymouth and Portland – the venue for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic sailing competitions.

B&G will provide the 8-inch Zeus multifunction chartplotter specifically developed for sailing boats, along with the new Triton instrument system and the latest zero-emission Broadband 4G™ Radar. The equipment will be installed on a Redbay Stormforce 8.4m RIB powered by a Yamaha F300 outboard and the craft will be operational by early February.

Based at the team facility in Portland Marina, the RIB will act as an on-the-water hub for Skandia Team GBR’s preparations and will play a key role in race training, communications, monitoring weather conditions, rest and rehydration in the summer and towing duties when required.

 “Our selection of B&G was based on their leadership in yacht racing instrumentation and the assistance that their advanced products can give us with our coaching and programme to maximise team performance,” said Stephen Park of Skandia Team GBR.

 “The Zeus and Triton system is so easy to use, but also has advanced capabilities such as the downloading and analysis of GRIB weather files and the ability to display wind plots showing recent fluctuations in wind speed and direction over a selected time period.  These will help Skandia Team GBR get the most out of their training sessions,” added George Pollard, UK Managing Director, B&G.  “We are delighted to be making such a contribution to the British sailing team in their quest to remain the world’s leading Olympic Classes sailing nation.”

The B&G system being supplied to Skandia Team GBR is similar to those already installed on the mark-laying and committee boats operated by the organisers of the 2012 Olympic Games, which were in action at a recent Games test event.