are going deep into the development of high-performance clothing. And not only for the guys on the boat. The first thing Grant said tome was that on his teamthere were no A and B teammembers. Everyone, the shore team, the people on the chase boats, the design team, boatbuilders and of course the sailors, all are equally important. That is the strength of the team. As a consequence, we developed clothing for all of these different
functions.More specifically, we defined three groups: One was everyone on the water, not only the sailors but also the people helping out at sea. The second was the shore team, people helping with preparing the boats and so forth. And the third was the office group: engineers, designers, people working with all the services needed for the team. All of these people are contributing to the success of the teamand it was important to include everyone. ‘Another consideration in the
development phase was the fact that Emirates Team New Zealand will only operate in summer seasons during this America’s Cup cycle. They spent the summer this year in Barcelona and for the upcoming winter they will move back to Auckland where they will work in the southern hemisphere summer season. Next year they will come back to Barcelona for another summer. These were the principles upon which we developed the full package of clothing. ‘We have received a lot of positive
feedback from the team, they are already using our clothes. Clothing can be quite a complicated issue, there’s design, sizes, fitting, materials, timing. It’s a long process to plan, develop, produce, ship and deliver everything. In this case timing was very important and we are happy to say that everything was delivered as wanted on time. Kiwis are very direct people, it’s a raw
Above left: the SLAM AC collection does include foul weather gear but that’s for the chase boat crews, not for the AC75 sailors. Above right: the apparel designed for the AC75 sailors is skin tight and low drag, inspired by high-speed skiing and cycling gear
culture and you have to gain their trust. But the moment you do that you are their best friend. Italians, we talk a lot but we don’t always deliver what we promise. We did deliver and that was very important. ‘Going back to the substance of
the product, foiling has definitely opened a new frontier in sailing. The fast-sailing concept is much better for TV and has different parameters for winning. For me as a sailor, this is not to say that we have abandoned traditional, you could say slow sailing. I’m still active in the Star class, a boat that sails at five knots, maybe six knots. I love this way of racing and consider it the most sophisticated form of the art. And we as a company are not neglecting that. This is still the majority of sailing and probably more than 90 per cent of the market. But clearly, foiling is the new frontier. And it’s really worth exploring – it’s very cool, visually fascinating and there are a lot of new things to learn. This goes also for our clothing and we hope that this is only the beginning. The plan is that this is going to be a long term collaboration and that we can do several Cups together. Emirates Team New Zealand has survived for a very long time, they are good at continuity. And so are we. ‘America’s Cup boats sail inshore
races only so the clothing series is not designed for offshore sailing. Protection from sun, wind pressure, rashes and minimum drag are the driving factors. Of course we have developed foul weather gear, SLAM has been working on that area for many years but for ETNZ that is for team members on support boats, not for the sailors. There’s too much volume for the AC75 sailors. Instead we have brought technology from other fields into the maritime sphere. The line of products used on the AC75 is inspired by other sports: high-speed skiing, cycling, situations
where aerodynamics play a role. It’s very tight so any drag is reduced as much as possible. Since they use bikes on the boats for power generation we have developed special bike pants for the crew members in those positions. ‘At the same time the races are
very short and sailed in very hot conditions, which is unusual circumstances for sailors like you and me. It’s more like a dinghy environment. So what’s needed is something very breathable to stay fresh and at the same time something that provides protection. Something that dries out in minutes. Actually the sailors hose themselves with fresh water before going out on the water, to lower their body temperature. And within minutes the clothes are dry. ‘The SLAM sailing collection
available for customers is an extraction of the package delivered to the AC sailors. Some items are the same, but for some products it would not make sense. We are offering clothes that are useful for the common user, but some items are very advanced and specialised and the numbers would be way too small to justify a production. It would simply be too expensive. ‘To be a partner with the number
one Formula One teamin sailing is an incredible opportunity to be connected to the pinnacle of the sport.We are partnering with the Italian Olympic Team, so we are also connected to the younger generation, as well as with top offshore sailors. Basically the top people fromboth sides are all helping us now to develop the best products. This is not only a sponsorship, it is a real partnership because everything we learn during this process will come back to us as a company and contribute to the development of our products,’ Chieffi concludes.
www.slam.com
❑ SEAHORSE 65
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