Hempel supports Gosford to Lord Howe Island race

by Media Services on 16 Oct 2007 On Saturday 27th October nineteen yachts will line up for the start of the 34th Gosford to Lord Howe Race. This year is the second time the event has been sponsored by the global paint company Hempel and their support is expected to continue in the future. ‘It’s great to have Hempel’s support; you feel like you’re not dealing with your average multinational, they’re down to earth people and that suits us and our club’ said Gosford Sailing Club’s Mark Greenwood.

The 414nm Gosford to Lord Howe race and the Sydney/Hobart are the only category one offshore races that run every year in Australia. Greenwood describes the Lord Howe race as ‘a true blue water race’ and observed that once you rounded the buoy off Terrigal ‘it’s 408nm NE straight out to sea.’ He said that the beauty of the world heritage listed island makes the race unique as ‘there are not many other destinations like it.’

This year’s fleet includes the CYCA’s AFR Midnight Rambler, Kioni, Occasional Course Language and last year’s line honours winner Getaway-Sailing.com. Getaway Sailing holds the race record for the new 414nm course; the previous record for the old 408nm course was set by Merit in 2002. Polaris of Belmont and Pacha will be flying the flag for the Gosford Sailing Club, and a Murray, Burns & Dovell design named Dream Lover from the Moreton Bay Boat Club will be battling Getaway Sailing for line honours.

A few changes have been introduced to this year’s race. For the first time there will be first, second and third trophies awarded for the PHS and IRC divisions and also line honours. The traditional cricket match between yachties and Lord Howe islanders will continue with the addition of a yachtie versus yachtie four round golf competition.

Greenwood commented that everyone at the Gosford Sailing Club, particularly the hard working volunteer race committee, was looking forward to the 34th race. He said that one of the great things about getting to Lord Howe was the relaxed pace of life and limited access to technology.

‘There’s no mobile phone reception and you can only get around by pushbike.’

Hempel Australia General Manager Paul James explained that sponsorship of the Lord Howe race is part of their international program which includes support for sailing teams, individual yachts and boating events. They are currently backing the Danish sailing team in their Beijing Olympic campaign, provide ongoing support for Ichi Ban and a number of other local yachts and are planning to expand their support for Australian events in the near future.

James said that although their focus will continue to be on premier yachting events such as the Lord Howe race, ‘the door is still open’ and they are considering a number of ways they can expand their sponsorship activities. These include the possibility of increasing sponsorship for individual yachts, supporting power boat racing and putting their weight behind community events.

Hempel’s sponsorship commitments are made possible by the company’s rather unique corporate structure which sees a proportion of profits regularly given back to the community. The Denmark based company is owned by the J.C Hempel Foundation which supports cultural, humanitarian, charitable and scientific causes.

‘A lot of people don’t realise that the Hempel company is owned by a foundation, and that the majority of the profits from the business go to the foundation. The foundation uses those profits for cultural and community support; so basically it isn’t going into peoples’ pockets, it’s going through the foundation and back into the community.’

‘That’s pretty unusual: there are very few companies around that world that are in that situation.’

He added that Hempel’s involvement with the yachting community was natural given the company’s long association with the marine industry.

‘Hempel have been involved with marine paints and yacht paints right since the conception of the business in 1915. We’re still very actively involved in developing high performance products for the yacht market, and there will be a number of new product releases coming up in the next 12 months.’

The company has a large purpose built facility in Barcelona, Spain which is used to develop new products such as the antifoul paint Global NCT (nano capsule technology). Lead was a key ingredient in many early antifoul paints but the hazardous nature of the material meant that it was phased out and replaced by tin. Later copper based paints replaced tin and now researchers are looking for copper free alternatives. There is also demand for paints that use water based application systems rather than solvent based ones.

James predicts that the next generation of antifouls for recreational vessels may well be silicon based. Silicon based antifouls are currently being used on tankers, large industrial and commercial vessels and are considered to be relatively environmentally friendly.

‘Hempel is very much at the forefront of developing silicon based systems which of course are totally biocide free and also heavy metals free…It’s probably one of the areas for the development of yacht products of the future.’

‘Everyone’s familiar with silicone being a slippery surface and that’s essentially the basis of what happens with a silicon antifouling : it’s a very slick surface. Providing that the vessel is active the fouling doesn’t get a chance to get hold.’

The problem facing researchers is that typically recreational vessels have a great deal of down time, with people using them once a week or a few times a month.

‘With silicon systems unless they’re being used regularly it doesn’t work very well.’

Of the three categories of antifoul currently available on the market: erodible (or self polishing), traditional (or soft) and hard, the durability of hard antifoul is recommended for high speed power boats and racing yachts. These antifouls have a high proportion of insoluble resin which makes the paint surface very hard and therefore resistant to erosion.

Racing boats will sometimes apply hard antifoul and then burnish it with wet and dry paper to get an ever smoother surface. And even with a 414nm offshore race like the Lord Howe, even the tiniest speed advantage can sometimes make all the difference.

Contact details:
Hempel Australia Pty Ltd
12 Fitzgerald Road,
Laverton North VIC 3026
Telephone: (03) 8369 4900
Fax: (03) 9360 0894
Email: sales_melbourne@au.hempel.com
http://www.hempel.com