OYS SUPPLY THE WORLD'S LONGEST PBO STAY

The brief, which came into Ocean Yacht Systems (OYS), was for a perfect torsional stay in PBO for a Code Zero from North Sails, New Zealand. This was to be the longest ever built at a staggering 57.6m pin to pin measurement under load!

Richard Hulston at OYS Pacific, Ocean Yacht Systems' Auckland based facility, had confidence in the fact that OYS could produce this for the Dubois designed 44m superyacht Salperton. He knew that he could guarantee the success of this specialist project, given OYS' proven track record in research, development and support from the two years that he had worked alongside the Design Department in the UK developing the complete PBO system. Everything had been thoroughly thought through, with nothing left to chance and he was delighted to accept the order from Richard Bicknell and Andrew Ham at the North loft in Auckland.

Given the distances involved, the stay had to fit flawlessly first time and North Sails, along with Marten Spars, who had specified a safe working load of 20 tons, provided measurements and design details. The PBO stay had to fit within a custom designed pocket from the team at North, although they left putting the custom luff tape on until after delivery, to ensure that it matched the stay exactly. The covering was to be a combination of Kevlar and Tecnora to provide additional torsional stiffness and give a good visual chafe indicator. Two pin holes were specially designed at both ends to provide extra protection from wear and tear and final bushing to prevent abrasion.

OYS are the only company in the world to measure and construct PBO stays under load to ensure an exact length is achieved every time, which is critical when producing matching stays of the same length.

North in New Zealand were delighted with the end result and Andrew Ham said, "We did not see a lot of the boat sailing with the Code Zero, however, the furling aspect of it was great. Service was great, attention to exactly what we wanted was done very well and overall presentation and function was fantastic. We will have more to come I am sure!"

Richard Hulston from OYS Pacific also endorsed North comments, "The final product was better than hoped for with a perfect loft fitting. It was perfect when hoisted up the rig and even fitted nicely into a tight storage area on board the yacht. All involved were very happy. The longest PBO torsional stay ever built was a success."

Mike Orange, Technical Director at OYS UK commented, "We have completed a huge research and development programme into the use of PBO rigging, which is totally interchangeable with our rod rigging systems and have been specifying and producing this for a number of superyachts for the last couple of years. Salperton's Code Zero PBO stay was a tremendous success and a natural design development to produce the world's longest stay. We are looking forward to working further with North Sails."

Photograph captions:

Ywain Ap Rhys - the new Chief Designer at Ocean Yacht Systems proving how light and easy to manage the PBO stay was for Salperton's Code Zero, prior to despatch to North Sails in Auckland.

The team at Ocean Yacht Systems in the UK with the 57.6m completed PBO stay in the car park at Head Office.

[ May 2007 ]