Nauteco

Nauteco Antifouls Pelican Racing's Successful Laser SB3 Fleet

3 November 2009

Racing yachtsmen don't antifoul their boats if they want to be competitive.

Well, 1st and 2nd in Class in the 2009 JP Morgan Round the Island Race, amongst other successes, suggest there may have to be a change of mind, at least as far as using Nauteco's Performance Antifouling is concerned.

Pelican Racing of Cowes, established in 2008 by very hands-on sailors Ash Holmes and Phil Devereaux, has a fleet of twelve Tony Castro designed Laser SB3s.  These powerful 6.2 metre one-design keelboats are very fast and built to a rigid Class specification, so that it is the skill and tactics of the three-man crew that determines success.  Dinghy-like agility, keelboat stiffness, trailerable and affordable - no wonder it was Sailing World's Boat of the Year 2008.

Ash and Phil run Pelican Racing, a sail boat charter business that offers corporate race charter, RYA keelboat skills training, weekday local series and key national and international race events including Round the Island, Cork Week, Solent Series and the Laser SB3 National Championships.  Not only do they need to be competitive in race conditions, the Laser fleet needs to be readily available for customers and that means staying in the water with attendant fouling problems.  Class rules allow antifoul paint and, after a successful test with Nauteco's Performance Antifouling, the fleet of Laser SB3s was given the same treatment and proceeded to win races, with no apparent handicap.

Nauteco's range of professional marine paints and coatings includes their Performance Antifouling, a unique antifoul that relies less on biocides and more on its microbiological properties to inhibit cellular growth and the build-up of marine fouling, making it both effective and environmentally-friendly.  It also catalyses under water to form a slippery surface film that is rather like the skin of a fish, helping boat performance.  These properties have benefited a wide range of yachts, from SY Jolie Brise who scored a 1st in Class and 1st Overall for the second leg of the 7,000 mile long 2009 Tall Ships Atlantic Challenge, to the Swan charter yacht Star Chaser and her long season racing in the UK and the Caribbean and, of course, a growing number of cruising leisure boat owners.

Ash and Phil are delighted with the response to their 'just turn up and race' philosophy which offers both novice and experienced sailors the excitement of high performance keelboat sailing at the heart of the South's yachting scene at an affordable cost.

Nauteco is equally delighted to be a part of Pelican's success and to have proved the unique properties of Performance Antifouling in the demanding world of competitive yacht racing.

Click here to visit the Pelican Racing website.