British Nacra 17 sailors announced as Marlow Ropes Ambassadors
by Kate McCoy 28 Aug 2018 08:00 PDT
Ben Saxton and Nikki Boniface announced as Marlow brand ambassadors © Richard Langdon / British Sailing Team
Marlow Ropes is delighted to announce Ben Saxton and Nikki Boniface as its latest brand ambassadors. The British Sailing Team Nacra 17 sailors will fly the flag for Marlow Ropes during their bid for Tokyo 2020.
Paul Honess, leisure marine sales director at Marlow Ropes said: "As the Nacra 17 boat is relatively new to the circuit, Marlow Ropes is keen to research, design and develop new products to improve some of the systems within the foiling class. Ben and Nikki are the perfect team to help us achieve this. We wish them continued success in their bid to represent Team GB in 2020."
The pair achieved early success together scooping silver medals from their first two events. This convinced them to make their partnership official for a Tokyo 2020 campaign. More recent successes include third place in the Sailing World Cup Final, fourth in the European Championships, sixth Overall European Championships and tenth in the World Championships.
Serendipitously, Nikki is also a local sailor from Hailsham, East Sussex where the Marlow Ropes UK factory and head office is based.
Ben Saxton said: "We are excited to team up with Marlow Ropes. Nikki and I are in the business of being the best, and quite simply Marlow Ropes is a perfect partner for us! There are exciting times ahead."
Nikki Boniface said: "I love that we can work with a world leading rigging specialist. It's very exciting to be involved with the research and development of even more innovative systems."
Ben Saxton made waves as a young sailor. He claimed the prestigious Optimist national title in 2004 and was selected for the British Optimist World Championships team in 2004 and 2005. At youth level he won silver at the 420 Junior Europeans and finished second U19s at the 420 Worlds 2008 in Greece. Later that year he progressed into the Olympic 470 class, winning 470 European silver with Richard Mason in 2012 before switching to the Nacra 17 class when it was introduced for the Rio 2016 cycle.
Saxton went to the Rio 2016 Olympics with Nicola Groves before pairing up with Katie Dabson in mid 2017, winning the world championships the same year. When Dabson suffered an injury prior to the Princess Sofia Trophy, Palma earlier this year, Nikki Boniface stepped into the breach. Nikki is a multihull specialist who has been racing since she was 12 years old. She used to compete against Saxton with previous helm Tom Phipps.
Marlow Ropes is the competitive sailor's brand of choice, proudly manufactured in Hailsham, East Sussex. It is the official partner to the USA and UK sailing teams, the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race, TFW Foiling Week and The Offshore Academy amongst others.
Find out more at www.marlowropes.com