2006 Concept Boat winners announced in London
By IBI Magazine
The winners and runners-up of the 2006 Concept Boat competition have been announced at the 2007 Collins Stewart London Boat Show.
The overall winner of the competition, Matteo Signorini from Munich, Germany (pictured), received his share of the £7,000 prize money.
The 2006 competition, organised by the British Marine Federation (BMF and supported by the Royal Institution of Naval Architects (RINA), was themed 'Tow a Boat'. It asked entrants to design a recreational or commercial craft of up to 24m (79ft) in length, that can be towed behind a mid-sized 4x4 (SUV) or large family car.
The competition was divided into two key categories: 'Concept and Design', which looks for detailed designs that have moved beyond pure concept into a developed concept; and 'Pure Concept', which asks for a simple illustration of a concept boat with a brief written summary.
Entries were received from 14 countries this year ranging from the UK through to six other European countries and as far flung as Australia, Korea, Argentina, America, New Zealand, Chile and Russia.
This year's winners were:
Design and Concept
Winner: Matteo Signorini from Munich, Germany
Judges thought Signorini's design, 'Origami boat', a lightweight, foldable, single-handed sailing dinghy, was an excellent idea. They also praised the idea believing it to have 'the potential to set up an entirely new class of sailing'.
Runners-up: David Hitchen from Argyll, Scotland and Derek Kelsall from New Zealand
Hitchen's entry, the 'Waterway Explorer', took a novel approach to making use of a RIB based craft for exploring inland waterways and coastal zones, whilst Kelsall's design, the 'Kiss Kat 26', with its objectives of speed and convenience of expanding and rigging a family yacht, was described by judges as being a 'practical and well thought-out idea'.
Pure Concept
Winner: Chris Challoner from St Albans, Hertfordshire, UK
Challoner's design, the folding 17.5ft (5.3m) day sailor titled 'The Nutshell', was described by the judges as 'simplicity itself' and solved problems that had previously remained unresolved by those trying to design a boat of similar nature.
Runner-up: A. Monteath from Haslemere, Surrey, UK
Monteath's 'Aquavan', a craft for cruising whilst also doubling up as a conventional caravan, caught the judge's attention as being a well executed concept, and only reservations about buoyancy and forward access stopped it from winning first place.
Nick Parker, a technical director at the British Marine Federation, said: "The standard of this year's competition was extremely high and we are delighted with both the amount of entries we received and the range of nations represented by this year's entrants. On behalf of the British Marine Federation, I would like to extend my congratulations to this year's winners and runners-up who should feel exceptionally proud with their designs and achievements."
The winners, runners-up and 10 shortlisted entries are all on display at this year's Collins Stewart London Boat Show.
The theme for future Concept Boat competitions has been announced as 'treading lightly in our beautiful world'. The focus for 2007 is to design a boat that makes the best use of time, whether afloat, enjoying or using the boat, or accessing or launching the boat.
The judges will be looking for designs that recognise the finite, and increasingly precious, amount of time available for leisure activities, or for doing our job, and seeks to maximise this. The competition is open for entries that are a novel design of recreational or commercial craft up to 24m (79ft) in length.
The 2007 competition, once again organised by the BMF and in association with the RINA, is now in partnership with CSL Publishing's All At Sea with information appearing across their portfolio of titles.
(19 January 2007)
|
