Australian Sailing reveals ten-year plan - MarineBusinessWorld Oceania newsletter
by Peter Rendle 17 Feb 2022 23:00 UTC
Sailing 2032 Strategic Pillar - Grow © Australian Sailing
As we embrace the summer in Australia and enjoy spending more time on the water unimpeded by state and federal Covid rules, the industry is looking to the future. That includes Australian Sailing who announced their latest strategic plan covering the next decade.
Sailing 2032 is a long-term vision for the sport that outlines why Australian Sailing exists, what the organisation hopes to achieve between 2022 and 2032, and how they will achieve their goals. "Sailing is an iconic part of Australian culture and Sailing 2032 charts the future direction of sailing in Australia, ensuring our community continues to thrive," said the organisation's President, Daniel Belcher.
"We passionately believe that sailing is something that more Australians should love to do. Sailing 2032 is a plan for Australian Sailing, however, critically, it is also a call to action for our sailing clubs, Discover Sailing Centres, class associations, volunteers and sailing stakeholders to embrace and align with our plan, to collectively benefit us all." The plan details the three Strategic Pillars and six Strategic Foundations that will be the guide the governing body of sailing in Australia over the next ten years.
As we mentioned in previous newsletters we intend to keep readers abreast of future developments involving alternate propulsion options. Genevos, a leading specialist in marine fuel cell integration, and Transfluid, a renowned brand around the world in the production of transmission units and electric motors, have partnered to combine expertise for a scalable zero emissions propulsion pack. The partnership will contribute to the acceleration of clean marine mobility through the provision of a turn-key hydrogen-electric propulsion system based on maritime certified technologies.
The offering of a complete system will include Genevos' recently AiP marine certified Hydrogen Power Module (HPM) range, and Transfluid's specialist integration services and marine certified batteries, electric motors, and transmissions. Transfluid's large product portfolio in combination with the HPM range offering solutions from 15 kW to 500 kW will enable full customisation to individual vessel requirements. The partnership will offer both hydrogen-electric and hybrid options, which will benefit from the extended motoring range enabled by the marine fuel cells provided by Genevos.
It is not just propulsion that is under the renewable energy microscope. Brunswick Corporation has announced that it is expanding its partnership with Arkema, a leader in specialty materials, to develop a fully recyclable fiberglass boat that integrates Arkema's Elium® liquid thermoplastic resin on all the vessel's composite parts, core, and adhesives. The project is part of Brunswick's enterprise-wide sustainability program and is expected to allow for hull and structural components to be fully recycled at end of life and reintroduced into production processes, reducing the amount of disposable material and sourcing of virgin raw materials.
The first prototype is expected to be displayed at the 2022 Fort Lauderdale Boat Show, and will be developed in conjunction with Boston Whaler, leveraging the brand's unique construction to validate the technology. "We are delighted to expand our partnership with Arkema, marking an exciting milestone in our sustainability journey," said Kris Neff, Boston Whaler president. "By combining next-generation materials with the legendary safety and durability of the Boston Whaler brand, we are ensuring we continue to meet boaters' diverse and changing needs while reducing our environmental footprint."
Mastervolt, part of Advanced Systems Group (ASG), announced the introduction of the new MLI Ultra 1250, the most compact battery in Mastervolt's range, offering five times more energy storage and 70 percent more space and weight savings compared to traditional lead acid batteries. The MLI Ultra 1250 has a lifespan 3500 cycles and a depth of discharge (DOD) of 80 percent due to the nearly complete absence of self-discharge and the minimal build-up of the 'memory effect'.
As with the entire MLI Ultra series, the MLI Ultra 1250 can be recharged within 60 minutes. "At Mastervolt, we're committed to designing and innovating the next generation of the Lithium-Ion batteries and alternative energy sources," said Brett Dibkey, President of ASG. "The official launch of the MLI Ultra 1250 represents an exciting milestone in our path to lead the industry in this effort, and we're thrilled to bring this revolutionary design to market." The newest addition to Mastervolt's Lithium-Ion Range is currently being displayed at the Miami International Boat Show.
Event details are beginning to be made public and one such event will take place in Queensland later this year. The Australian International Marine Export Group (AIMEX) has confirmed its annual conference, ASMEX 2022 will be held from Monday 16th May to Wednesday 18th May at the InterContinental Sanctuary Cove Resort on the Gold Coast, Queensland. Now in its 11th year, the flagship Australian marine industry conference will continue to build on its robust reputation for delivering quality and current industry commentary plus offer invaluable networking opportunities among all attendees. Under the banner of 'Reconnecting with the world' the conference will focus on the direction of the export, superyacht and commercial sectors of Australia's marine industry as they adapt to 'living with Covid' while continuing to face the challenges of ongoing growth.
New products and application this week are led by Navico's announcement of three news apps for their brands. B&G®, the world's leading sailing navigation and instrument specialist, unveiled its B&G App last summer and has followed up with a new release with updates offering a range of safety and navigation enhancements, personalised notifications plus the anchor alert safety feature for premium subscribers. The B&G App is available on both the Apple Store for iOS and Google Play for Android, and now offers satellite overlay view for premium subscribers, enhancing situational awareness with the option to choose between full view or land-only.
In addition, sailors can select the transparency level of the layer. Another popular update for sailors is the weather overlay on the charts which includes key data such as wind, gust, precipitation, air temperature and pressure. During route planning, users can see what weather is predicted at a specific time and location during the route, opting for the weather overlay both from main charts or during route creation.
At the same time Lowrance® pushed out an update to its app this month including satellite view capability, weather overlay, track sharing and personalized push notifications, adding even more functionality to the app that connects your smartphone with Lowrance fishfinders and chartplotters. The Lowrance app now offers satellite overlay view for premium subscribers, enhancing situational awareness with the option to choose between full view or land-only.
Meanwhile the Simrad® App debuted last summer and has already pushed out a series of new features to provide superior connectivity and safety for boaters. The app updates include satellite view capability, weather overlay, track sharing, personalised notifications, and a new anchor alert feature for premium users. Available on both the Apple Store for iOS and Google Play for Android, this serves as a perfect companion to Simrad® electronics on-board any vessel. Premium subscribers now benefit from satellite overlay, enhancing situational awareness with the option to choose between full view or land-only.
This week Raymarine unveiled its YachtSense® Ecosystem, an onboard and remote monitoring solution that gives boaters effortless control of their Raymarine equipment and vessel systems from their mobile device. The YachtSense Ecosystem begins with the new Raymarine mobile app, a digital companion for Raymarine owners that provides simple onboard and off-boat integration capabilities. Enabling the YachtSense Ecosystem is the new YachtSense Link marine mobile router.
And for outboard owners Mercury Marine has introduced Joystick Piloting for Outboards (JPO) with Bow Thruster, the industry's first outboard joystick system with full and seamless integration of a bow thruster. With Mercury outboards now being used on very large boats, this innovative, integrated new system provides the ability to precisely manoeuvre those large vessels with the same authority and intuitiveness as smaller joystick-controlled boats.
The system is also an enabler for future implementation of more automated vessel control as part of Brunswick's ACES (Autonomy, Connectivity, Electrification and Shared access) strategy. Joystick Piloting for Outboards (JPO) with Bow Thruster offers a single joystick control for simultaneously operating both Mercury's JPO and a compatible bow thruster from Sleipner® or Vetus®.
There is plenty more marine industry news at www.marinebusinessworld.com
Stay safe and enjoy the summer,
Peter Rendle - peter.rendle@marinebusinessworld.com