X-Yachts Gold Cup class winner 'Hansen' shows Future Fibres PBO is the number one choice for serious racing boats, regardless of size.The X-37, owned by Jan Kildegaard Hansen, achieved two wins and six podium finishes to clinch the Sport Class B overall title at last month's Gold Cup. This caps off an impressive few months for the Dane who, since having a complete set of Future Fibres PBO installed, has finished first in group at The Fyn Cup and Fyn Rundt and come a close second in the highly competitive Kiel Week.

"No other X-37 had the speed to keep up with us in these conditions, it made a real difference. There was much less sag in the forestay and no pumping in the middle of the mast when the boat is moving in the waves. That made a big difference. After three wins, we are looking forward to another race to further show what we can do!" Commented Jan Kildeggard, owner of X-37 Hansen.

The smallest yacht to have specified Future Fibres PBO so far, Hansen is one of a growing number of one design racing yacht owners specifying and refitting PBO composite rigging to give them the competitive advantage.

Friend of the owner and designer for North Sails Denmark, Sofus Pedersen was onboard for the X-Yacht Gold Cup victory and commented on the boat's performance: "It's a pleasure to tune a carbon rig with Future Fibres stays. We used to have the standard aluminium mast and on that we had a range of 10 turns on the Vs from light to heavy trim. On the new rig we have 1 to 1.5 turns on the Vs! You can clearly feel changes on the boat and rig when you tune it and it made a big difference on Saturday when the wind was 20-25 knots."

Future Fibres PBO has a long and illustrious history of providing PBO rigging to the grand prix race market and it is clear that smaller boats are now becoming eager to share the technology utilised by their larger cousins. Ten years' of development has gone into making Future Fibres PBO the lightest, strongest and most aerodynamic composite rigging available and the company's Germanischer Lloyd approval demonstrates its commitment to reliability and longevity – a key factor for any owner racer.

Future Fibres is celebrating again this morning, after news of Mike Golding's third place in the Transat Jacques Vabre (TJV), confirmed another impressive first, second and third for the Valencia based composite rigging specialist.

First to finish was Marc Guillemot, on the ultra lightweight Safran, which arrived at 09:52:10 on Tuesday, 15 days, 19 hours, 22 minutes and 10 seconds after setting off from Le Havre. And although not managing to beat the course record, Safran's skipper, Marc Guillemot, admitted this was the hardest race of his 30 year career.

"There were several difficult moments, in particular on the passage past Guadeloupe. We tore a spinnaker that really was a superb sail. We were quite anxious for the rest of the race because it was the one key sail we would have used in the Caribbean." Stated Guillemot.

He continued: "A time of concern was also coming through these last few hours because we felt it could be crucial there. You could not even glance in the rear view mirror because we didn't know where they were. It is tough mentally when someone is pushing you so hard all the time, but we hadn't fought so hard to let victory elude us."

Talking about what it means to be so heavily involved with the TJV and the race industry, Future Fibres CEO, Ewan McLellan, remarked: "We are delighted that our latest PBO rigging continues to lead the world of yacht racing at the very highest level. This is the 'race of the year 'so it was important for us to gain a strong result and you can't do much better than 1st, 2nd and 3rd!"

Next to cross the finish line off Costa Rica was Kito De Pavant's Groupe Bel, which features a deck spreader rig and a full set of optimised Future Fibres PBO rigging. Arriving less than nine hours after Safran, in brisk winds and afternoon sunshine, the duo's constant high speeds were not quite enough in the end, finishing 8 hours 40 minutes and 20 seconds behind Marc Guillemot and Charles Caudrelier-Bénac's Safran.

For De Pavant, the race represented his second TJV podium finish, after taking third as co-skipper with Jean Le Cam in 2005. It is the second time Groupe Bel has finished a strong runner up – taking second in the summer's Istanbul Europa Race.

Commenting on the race, De Pavent remarked: "I am proud to finish second behind Marc Guillemot and Charles Caudrelier Bénac. They were superb from beginning to end and sailed a great course. They have an excellent boat, which I can happily say because ours is the same. They made few errors, but only really when we were right behind them and pushing could you see them waver."

Third to reach Puerto Limon was Mike Golding and Javier Sanso, who finished the 5317 mile course just 1 day 6 hours 7 minutes and 28 seconds behind Safran.

The race was the British skipper's sixth consecutive TJV race and his fourth time on the podium, a record in the IMOCA Open 60 class. Golding finished second in 2001, and third in 1999 and 2003, and today.

With yesterday's result, Sanso, who finished fourth in the Barcelona World Race and took fourth in the TJV in 2001, became the first Spanish sailor in the nine editions of the race to finish on the podium in the IMOCA Open 60 class.
"It is a good result for Javier and I. We were literally thrown together in the last weeks for the preparation before the race. So for both of us it is a good result. We had no training time. The boat has not sailed this summer, the shore time did a great job in the preparation in the time scale, but we just had not put the time in on the water. So you look at Groupe Bel and Safran and you see two good boats, which are rightfully first and second. But we know in another world we could have done better but third for us is a good result," commented Golding.

Future Fibres is celebrating again this morning, after news of Mike Golding's third place in the Transat Jacques Vabre (TJV), confirmed another impressive first, second and third for the Valencia based composite rigging specialist.

First to finish was Marc Guillemot, on the ultra lightweight Safran, which arrived at 09:52:10 on Tuesday, 15 days, 19 hours, 22 minutes and 10 seconds after setting off from Le Havre. And although not managing to beat the course record, Safran's skipper, Marc Guillemot, admitted this was the hardest race of his 30 year career.

"There were several difficult moments, in particular on the passage past Guadeloupe. We tore a spinnaker that really was a superb sail. We were quite anxious for the rest of the race because it was the one key sail we would have used in the Caribbean." Stated Guillemot.

He continued: "A time of concern was also coming through these last few hours because we felt it could be crucial there. You could not even glance in the rear view mirror because we didn't know where they were. It is tough mentally when someone is pushing you so hard all the time, but we hadn't fought so hard to let victory elude us."

Talking about what it means to be so heavily involved with the TJV and the race industry, Future Fibres CEO, Ewan McLellan, remarked: "We are delighted that our latest PBO rigging continues to lead the world of yacht racing at the very highest level. This is the 'race of the year 'so it was important for us to gain a strong result and you can't do much better than 1st, 2nd and 3rd!"

Next to cross the finish line off Costa Rica was Kito De Pavant's Groupe Bel, which features a deck spreader rig and a full set of optimised Future Fibres PBO rigging. Arriving less than nine hours after Safran, in brisk winds and afternoon sunshine, the duo's constant high speeds were not quite enough in the end, finishing 8 hours 40 minutes and 20 seconds behind Marc Guillemot and Charles Caudrelier-Bénac's Safran.

For De Pavant, the race represented his second TJV podium finish, after taking third as co-skipper with Jean Le Cam in 2005. It is the second time Groupe Bel has finished a strong runner up – taking second in the summer's Istanbul Europa Race.

Commenting on the race, De Pavent remarked: "I am proud to finish second behind Marc Guillemot and Charles Caudrelier Bénac. They were superb from beginning to end and sailed a great course. They have an excellent boat, which I can happily say because ours is the same. They made few errors, but only really when we were right behind them and pushing could you see them waver."

Third to reach Puerto Limon was Mike Golding and Javier Sanso, who finished the 5317 mile course just 1 day 6 hours 7 minutes and 28 seconds behind Safran.

The race was the British skipper's sixth consecutive TJV race and his fourth time on the podium, a record in the IMOCA Open 60 class. Golding finished second in 2001, and third in 1999 and 2003, and today.

With yesterday's result, Sanso, who finished fourth in the Barcelona World Race and took fourth in the TJV in 2001, became the first Spanish sailor in the nine editions of the race to finish on the podium in the IMOCA Open 60 class.
"It is a good result for Javier and I. We were literally thrown together in the last weeks for the preparation before the race. So for both of us it is a good result. We had no training time. The boat has not sailed this summer, the shore time did a great job in the preparation in the time scale, but we just had not put the time in on the water. So you look at Groupe Bel and Safran and you see two good boats, which are rightfully first and second. But we know in another world we could have done better but third for us is a good result," commented Golding.

After a demanding 5 days 19 hours and 29 minutes aboard the 105ft Sodeb'O, Thomas Coville has set a record breaking time for sailing single-handed across the North-Atlantic. The new time shaves eight hours off the previous record set by Francis Joyon, aboard his 98ft Trimaran IDEC in 2005. 

Sodeb'O was carrying a full set of Future Fibres rigging that combines both PBO and Kevlar cables to achieve optimum performance. Even with a 300 mile lead over Joyon's time, Coville faced some tough challenges to maintain his position in the closing stages. Last night, as the wind fell Coville was forced to gybe several times, taking him off his direct course but allowing him to maintain an averaged of over 20 knots as he closed in on the southwest tip of England.

Coville and the Sodeb'O team have worked closely with Future Fibres French agents Blew Stoub and mast engineers, HDS, to provide a fully customised solution, covering the full range of standing, furling and aft rigging.

Future Fibres founder Tom Hutchinson commented: "This is a great result for Thomas and the whole Sodeb'O team, they've all worked incredibly hard and this is a well deserved record. This is also the 6th world record for Future Fibres rigged boats in as many months.

Tom continued: "Single handed races like this are incredibly tough on the body but also the mind. Staying awake for six days is hard enough but Thomas has been working very hard the whole time. Sodeb'O has 650 square metres of sail and there's always something to do, mistakes can be very costly so you have to make sure you are always alert – that sounds pretty hard when you have only slept for an hour or so in the past five days! – congratulations Thomas."

Future Fibres is pleased to announce its highly successful collaboration with Hall Spars to develop a revolutionary internal tang for its latest Volvo project, Team Russia.

In professional yacht racing, when reducing weight and windage is the name of the game, fractions count. And when you are racing in the Volvo, travelling 37,000 miles, a few kilograms can make a real difference. With that in mind Hall Spars has developed a new internal cable termination system for Team Russia, which is the lightest on the market. Through collaboration with Future Fibres, Hall has removed the need for diagonal turnbuckles and many of the weight/windage drawbacks associated with them.

By moving the cable termination inside the mast and developing a revolutionary system for adjustment, using shims similar to a brick system on an adjustable mast step, Hall was able to reduce the weight by two thirds, compared to the screw driven method used by Southern Spars in this year's Volvo Ocean Race. The new system also dramatically reduces windage and simplifies the whole process by using colour coded shims to represent the number of turns required for tuning.

Future Fibres has in turn pushed its PBO composite rigging to the next level, optimising every aspect of its proven system which, together with Hall Spars and the Team Russia project engineers, has produced the lightest rigging package in this current Volvo Ocean Race.

"When we set out, it was purely a race project. Southern Spars were creating an internal tang system for the Volvo but we knew Halls solution would be lighter than theirs – we just didn't realise it would be two thirds lighter!" commented Future Fibres founder Tom Hutchinson. "The work we have done with Hall has been great. The system they have come up with maximises PBO's inherent benefits and uses the integral strength of the continuous loop to minimise the weight of the connections to the mast."

The new system is now being developed to be used on larger projects, with superyachts hopefully soon able to benefit from the reduced weight and windage that internal tangs provide, as well as improving the yachts appearance by removing a significant proportion of deck and mast hardware.

Following Great Britain's Olympic sailing team success last week, Future Fibres were themselves celebrating after Ian Percy and Andrew Simpson took gold in the Star Class sailing event, using PBO cables from Future Fibres. 

In a first for the Valencia based rigging experts, Future Fibres was approached by Team GB and asked to provide a set of runners for the historic and prestigious racing class. They didn't hesitate to say yes.

Future Fibres founder Tom Hutchinson commented: "This is not the size of boat we would normally work on but when you are asked by David Howlett to help the Olympic team you aren't going to say no! It was great working with the team and the result is fantastic."

He continued: "It was a real privilege to work on the campaign; the boys are amazing sportsmen and the Star Class is such an institution in sailing and a very competitive class. It's been around for nearly 100 years and a great deal has changed since then but it is still one of the most popular at the Games."

Star Class coach and equipment manager David Howlett is a man who needs no introduction, having coached team GB sailing to three gold medals in previous games. "The PBO runners Future Fibres produced gave us a small but important advantage; the cables are lighter and have less windage, compared with the standard cables. I know that the Swiss team had been working with Alinghi on their boat so we knew we needed to do everything we could to be as competitive as possible.

"This Games was the culmination of a lot of hard work from a great team of people. The cables may seem like a small part but in a race where seconds can count, it can be the difference between the top of the podium and the second step."

Percy and Simpson fought a close battle with their main Swedish rivals but managed to hang on, crossing the finishing line and taking the gold in the last race. Percy will now return to work on his next challenge, joining former Olympic team mate Ben Ainslie as lead tactician for Great Britain's Team Origin, in the 33rd America's Cup.

Tom continued: "I have to say a big congratulations to both the guys and the whole GB sailing team; the commitment they have is incredible. It was a real privilege to be involved in the campaign

Future Fibres has always been the forward-looking specialist rigging company – predicting and driving demand in a competitive market for lightweight PBO rigging. While planning for 2008 and beyond, a quick reflection of Future Fibres' achievements in 2007 shows success at all levels...

The superyacht industry has embraced the use of PBO rigging, a panel of superyacht owners and experts voting Future Fibres winner at the World Superyacht Awards in Venice in April. Six weeks later Germanischer Lloyd awarded classification society approval to Future Fibres' PBO cables after extensive testing and scrutiny of production processes and documentation. Absolute confidence in the product's safety and performance has led to superyacht owners, designers and project managers specifying Future Fibres for new build and retrofit projects. Fast superyachts Sojana and Hamilton II have both reported dramatic improvements in performance since opting to retrofit PBO rigging earlier this year.

Racing monohulls whose owners selected PBO rigging, after comparing it with continuous carbon, include Morning Glory, the Reichel Pugh Z86 and Leopard 3, the supermaxi destined for the charter market after an intensive 18-month race programme. Future Fibres has also made a big impact on the Open 60 class this year. This exciting fleet is growing rapidly in preparation for next year's Vendée Globe, starting November 2008. Six of the nine entrants starting in the Barcelona race this month are carrying full sets of PBO rigging, as are over 50% of the potential Transat Jaques Vabre and Vendée fleets

Multihulls Sodebo and Groupama 3 have been working with Future Fibres on an extensive R&D programme throughout the year, smashing several records along the way...

Wally, another brand synonymous with leading edge thinking and style, has Future Fibres PBO rigging on Y3K – its latest 'reference point' technologically advanced racing boat, as well as the Wally 148, Saudade, a Wally 130 (in production) and a recent order for a Wally 101.

Clean design is evident in every item emerging from Future Fibres' facilities, the continuously wound concept pioneered by Future Fibres being the neatest and best looking system on the market. And now, for those who like an even more minimal design on deck, an 'under-deck turnbuckle' has been developed and patented, reducing drag and windage while also lowering the centre of gravity

Production and semi-production boat builders continue to recommend Future Fibres PBO, as they aim to differentiate their product with a performance edge. From Dehler 44's to Shipmans (80, 72 and 63s) and a number of Southern Wind 100s, this is an exciting development as this high tech product receives general market acceptance, a lot sooner than anyone could have imagined

Teamwork is at the heart of Future Fibres and its core team has seen the benefits of keeping the pace fast, meetings short, and making every project an opportunity to improve a boat's performance and make a client happy. Now with over 50 full-time staff, Future Fibres is currently recruiting further technical sales staff, project managers, engineers and service personnel whilst expanding its production and test facilities at its 5,000m² factory in Valencia, in order to fulfil its growing 2008/09 order book.