European Yacht
Bi-Monthly Newsletter
The latest news and ideas from International® and Awlgrip®
July 2011
Welcome to the 2nd edition of the European Bi-Monthly Newsletter!
Its purpose is to provide a platform for us all to share news and ideas on promotions, projects, sponsorships and
iniatives that have been implemented throughout Europe. Hopefully, you’ll find the articles interesting and some relevant
or useful enough to utilise in your own markets.
The Professional Yachtsmen’s Association
Annual Golf Tournament
The 11th edition of the ‘PYA Annual Golf Tournament’ was held on Friday 3rd June at the
Grande Bastide Gold Club located in the Cote D’Azur. International have been title sponsors
and partner for this event since its inception. Due to travel restrictions, International did not
field a team this year but as a partner, we provided a breakfast reception, branded polo shirts
and trophies for the eventual winners!
“No matter what the weather throws at you, the tournament is always well attended and this
year was no exception. 72 players took part as the day started with a heavy downpour of rain
at the first tee off at 7.30am. The bad weather gradually eased off and provided an entertaining
day of golfing. A delicious lunch was generously offered and soon after, prizes were presented
to the winners of each category” quoted by Odile Bernhart – Sales Manager France.
Contributor: Odile Bernhart
New European Antifouling Range Coming Soon
Registering an antifouling in Europe is often a challenging and time-consuming task due to the
regulatory complexities that exist in each country. A new piece of legislation that will soon come
into force is the Biocidal Products Directive (BPD) which aims to unify all the existing local
registration systems in Europe. Under this directive, all biocides and products are assessed to
understand how toxic they are to the environment and how harmful they are to the end user.
The assessment process considers every stage of the paint’s life including manufacture,
application and removal.
As market leaders of high end antifoulings, International has taken a proactive approach
through liaising closely with the Regulatory Affairs department and the authorities to ensure
customers will have products that are supported under the BPD. In order to do this a number
of the antifoulings within the European range have been reformulated. The new ‘EU’ antifouling
range provides compliance whilst not compromising on performance, a significant
accomplishment by the Yacht R&D department.
This project is undoubtedly the biggest change that has ever happened to the European
Antifouling Range. It has required the efforts of a number of different departments to set-up
over 130 skus. The cross functional team is now gearing up for the launch of the new ‘EU’
range. The European Marketing team is currently preparing sales packages to inform customers
about the upcoming changes which will be distributed to the Sales Managers in August.
European Sales Managers can preview versions of the sales package on the BPD sharepoint
site: http://one.akzonobel.intra/bu/116/TeamSiteHub/yacht/BPD/default.aspx
Manufacture will commence in September 2011 in readiness for the 2012 winter buying orders.
Contributors: Claire Brown/Trevor Bruce
International Gelshield Centre in Malta
‘Manoel Island Yacht Yard’ has been appointed as an approved International Gelshield
Centre for osmosis treatment in Malta.
Staff members from their application and estimation teams followed a course of intensive
training modules held both locally in Malta with Powerpoint presentations and at our YPAC
facility in Viareggio where practical sessions with the Gelshield range took place. Attendees
received copies of the Gelshield Application Manual together with the Gelshield Systems
brochure and upon successful completion of the course, all attendees were presented with
their certificates.
Contributor: Joe Pasquale
Kiel Sailing Week (18-26 June 2011)
Kiel Sailing Week takes place during ‘Kieler Woche’, an annual event that always takes place
in the last week of June. It is one of the biggest if not the biggest summer festival in Europe
with over 3 million visitors! Kiel Sailing Week takes place from the Olympiahafen Schilksee
which is just outside the city and International has been a sponsor for the event for over
10 years.
In cooperation with a local boatyard ‘Knierim Yachtbau’, International provided a daily repair
service during the race to fix any hulls that were damaged by collision with other participating
yachts/dinghies in the various race classes. Help was ‘on-hand’ from Steffan Spaltmann &
Jean-Pierre Martius from the German Yacht team daily between the hours of 4pm and
midnight and this year up to 70 vessels took advantage of our repair service.
An excellent example of ‘Ask the Experts’ when help is required at a critical moment!
Contributor: Dirk Edler
Awlgrip Training for French Team
The French Yacht team recently took part in some ‘Awlgrip Systems’ training organised
by their “Champion” Yann Divanac’h in May, at the YPAC facility in Viareggio, Italy.
The training course was held over 3 days and covered the awareness and understanding
of Awlgrip products, its systems and schemes and included practical sessions involving
application of the topcoats and primers.
Our thanks go to the Italian Yacht team for their marvellous support and help in providing
a excellent facility to hold this course and to Yann for organising this training session.
Contributor: Odile Bernhart
Team ‘International’ finish fourth in
‘1000 Mile Double Handed Race’
Katie Miller, Trainee Sales Executive from UK Yacht and her racing partner Matthew Lingley
have finished a commendable fourth place overall in the ‘1000 Mile Double Handed Race’.
Katie has been involved in sailing since 2002 and has been awarded ‘Young Sailor of the
Year’ in 2006 & 2009. International were title sponsors for Katie’s yacht Figaro II in this event.
The race consisted of three legs between Scheveningen, Holland, Bergen, Norway and
Lerwick in the Shetland Islands. Katie and Matthew achieved two 2nd places and a 3rd place
for the legs. Despite developing a leak in the ballast tank and an engine that died during the
2nd leg, the two-man team were creditable in achieving fourth place overall in a challenging
event that provided all the competing sailors with an experience never to forget!
Contributor: Chris Jones
The world’s most sociable yacht rally!
The 2011 Gibraltar to Morocco Rally took place on Friday 25th June and provides an
opportunity for the ‘non-racing’ yacht & motorboat fraternity to get together on the water.
The first rally took place back in 2004 where just 9 yachts participated however the event
has grown steadily each year and over 50 yachts entered in 2011. Where else can you sail
from one continent to another in less than a day?
International sponsored the prize of a free supply of antifouling to the winner of ‘The
sailing yacht making the fastest crossing’. It was won by Richard Saul sailing his yacht
“Moonwatch”, a Moody 31’. Richard’s already an International customer and so he was
over the moon to receive a supply of Trilux 33 to give his yacht another season’s protection!
Contributors: Antonio Rodriguez/Lourdes Munoz
, International®, Awlgrip® and the AkzoNobel logo are trademarks of, or licensed to, AkzoNobel. © Akzo Nobel N.V. 2011.
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