New ceramic treated winches cause a stir

by . on 20 Dec 2008 A little over 18-months ago, Lewmar’s involvement in the TP52 circuit was minimal. In the last two seasons a growing number of new boats have taken advantage of the company’s investment in designing cutting edge winch systems for this revered fleet.

So it was straight out of the box that USA-17, the American boat owned by Larry Ellison and skippered by three times America's Cup winner Russell Coutts (NZL), the current MedCup Circuit champion skipper, won on her first and only outing planned for the 2008 series.

Just behind them was the Swedish boat Artemis, owned by Torbjorn Tornqvist and crewed by BMW Oracle Racing’s team-mates on their matching Reichel/Pugh-design. Artemis was six points adrift of the lead after eight races including one 40-miles coastal race.

Both USA-17 and Artemis sported Lewmar’s very latest custom, ceramic treated, low profile carbon winches. Developed in conjunction with BMW Oracle’s specialist winch system engineer, Jon Williams, these distinctive white drummed winches have caused quite a stir dockside. Low profile versions of carbon 68 cleat top primary, size 60 mainsheet, jib and pit winches and size 50 back stay winches were all custom made for these two boats. A totally new low profile super lightweight port snubber winch also features on the cabin top.

Lewmar has also teamed up with Formula One and WRC gearbox manufacturers Pro-Drive to develop its new I-Beam pedestal unit. I-Beam provides a stiffer platform, generating greater power input and therefore maximising output. These new systems also incorporate custom built, fully lubricated drive lines for greater efficiency.

Although the new USA-17 was only launched on 21st May, the settings and tuning notes gathered from Artemis in Alicante last month were applied directly to USA-17 to get her up to speed on the race track as quickly as possible.

King Juan Carlos’s Bribon, a 2007 vintage TP52 took third place, again equipped with Lewmar’s size 68, 60 and 50 carbon winches. And in fourth place – Harm Muller-spreer/Team Germany’s brand new Judel Vrolijk design Platoon, also fully spec’d with customizes Lewmar winches and drive line.