the Volvo, which we used for checking sheet loading, load testing at the dock and so forth. On Comanche our maximum sheet load is around 9 tons – we’ve used the Spinlock gear for testing winch pods, leads to the primary winch pods and setting up configurations.
‘It’s an easy tool to set up, so sometimes we’ll have the load pins in the winches and runners during a big manoeuvre, using it as a check-in to make sure the boat’s permanent gauges are giving us the correct information…’
According to Rán project manager Jan Klingmüller, this opened up their data to the whole sailing team. ‘With your iPhone in your pocket it’s picking up data all the time, giving you backstay tension and mainsheet loads etc.’ Klingmüller admits he finds it all a bit addictive. ‘The more you use it the more ways you find of using it. We now use it to weigh our motorbikes…’
‘America’s Cup world has always been good at data capture,’ continues Hall, ‘and also the Mini Maxi fleet and the TP52s. Teams realise this kind of data capture offers the incremental gains that can make a massive difference in a tightly contested fleet.’
The Sense tools have also proved important to the rapid development of the M32 catamaran on the World Match Racing Tour. ‘The builders of the M32 used Sense load cells to validate loads during development and then better tailor their deck equipment to the live loads encountered.’
If there’s one part of the sailing world that needs no persuading of the importance of measuring and limiting load, it’s the superyacht race circuit. With owners commissioning yachts for cruising but then catching the racing bug, it’s easy for design loads to be exceeded. This makes it vital to know how highly you can load up sheets and running backstays, for example, before fittings start to rip out of the deck with potentially
catastrophic consequences. ‘With larger yachts and superyachts in particular,’ says Hall, ‘insurance liability is becoming ever more onerous. If a rigger has made a soft loop for attaching a block, they need to prove it is properly tested and that the recognised certificate has been issued. More and more we are seeing riggers turn to load sensors to validate their work.’
According to Andrew Martin, product development manager at Oyster Yachts, Spinlock’s Sense products have become integral to the testing process at Oyster. ‘We use Spinlock products for weighing spars, for running winch load tests and for halyard and sheet load tests to build up empirical data.’
Alex Thomson’s Hugo Boss team have been using Spinlock equipment for load testing their Imoca 60 leading up to the Vendée Globe. ‘In a development class like the Imoca 60, everything needs to be as light as possible while being strong enough to do the job all the way around the world – so using the Sense load cells has been a vital part of the testing process for Hugo Boss,’ says Hall.
Comanche is another state-of- the-art campaign that tests the edges. Every element of this super powerful 100-footer has been designed around achieving the perfect compromise between weight and strength. Project manager Tim Hackett says: ‘We used a 5T Spinlock load cell for Puma in
The thirst for data in the wider market has led Spinlock towards investing further in the technology sector, in particular in the data acquisition field, to the point where they have positioned their growing ‘Sense’ range of products alongside the established ranges of personal protective equipment and deck hardware, now respectively labelled as the ‘Protect’ and ‘Control’ sectors of the business in a recent re- branding exercise.
Charlie Carter, Product Manager at Spinlock explains the new direction for the company “In the technology era, information and numerical data on just about anything is available instantly in the palm of your hand. Driving this is the public need for instant access to previously hard-to-find facts and figures, and also the appetite in society for metrics to quantify performance on a huge range of everyday activities, from knowing your ETA on a car journey, to predicting the value of your house. The marine industry can adopt available technologies and Spinlock recognise the opportunity in developing products tailored to meet the wider sailing markets appetite for measuring, analysing and responding to new information streams.”
A new product launched at METS in 2018 is the Spinlock Sail-Sense. This revolutionary new electronic device will record and share the sails flogging and UV exposure levels experienced by the sail, to be stored
The Report • December 2018 • Issue 86 | 47
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