America's Cup AC45s light up Portsmouth's night skies with Exposure

by Liz Rushall on 28 Jul 2016 As well as providing a daytime spectacle for Portsmouth at the recent America’s Cup World Series (ACWS) regatta, the amazing AC45 foiling catamarans also lit up the Harbour skyline at night.

Exposure Lights, Official Supplier to the ACWS event, fitted each boat with a set of their new cable-less Outdoor Event LED Spotlights to ensure they were visible to shipping and spectators on their Harbour moorings at night.

These compact, wireless, rechargeable lights were simply clipped on after sailing and floodlit each boat’s aerofoil sail, with spectacular effect as darkness came. Designed for lighting all types of outdoor events and exhibitions stands, especially where an electricity supply may be unavailable or too expensive to install, these waterproof LED lights projected a powerful 3200 lumens beam for up to 24 hours, before recharging for the next night.

Brightly lighting the AC45 foiling catamarans for nautical safety and public viewing was the challenge facing ACWS Portsmouth Racing Director, Rob Andrews, who wanted to ensure a robust, quick and lightweight solution for the Teams to fit after racing finished each day.

Andrews commented, “Exposure Lights are known in the sailing world for their highly powerful, lightweight marine safety and search lights, as well as their bike lights. So it was a bonus to find they had invented these neat, rechargeable Outdoor Event Lights. We tested the set up at the ACWS events in New York and Chicago. They did a perfect job, creating a stunning sight by illuminating the race boats at night, and ensuring the safety of all passing vessels for the Portsmouth QHM (Queens Harbour Master)!”