Yesterday morning (November 14), at the commencement of the Amsterdam Mets Trade – the world’s largest marine equipment trade show – the 2017 Dame Awards winners were announced. The annual, prestigious competition prizes the most innovative products exhibited at the show by companies from all around the world.
The overall winner was the Scantrust’s RS Venture Connect Coversion Kit, prized by Birgit Schnaase, Chairwoman of the judging panel of top naval architects, boat, interior and industrial designers plus user experts and engineers.
The Scantrust Venture Connect Conversion Kit retrospectively adapts the RS Venture, a normal dinghy designed for disabled sailors that is already in common use in many training and sailing centres of Northern Europe. The plug-and-play kit designed and built by the UK company includes a combined battery, a control pack, a powered mainsheet winch, a joystick and a sup-puff headset option. The system enables a sailing instructor to convert the Ventura into a suitable boat for use by those with a wide range of disabilities in just 30 minutes.
Schnaase highlighted how the jury praised the solution offered by Scantrust: well-designed and fully-integrated, the kit allows a great number of disabled people to enjoy sailing and the same benefits as any other sailing enthusiast.
She also claimed: ” The marine sector’s end users are changing: the younger generations often don’t have their own boat and need highly accessible products; wealthier customers have their own specific, and often very different, ideas of what they demand of a boat and its equipment. We also need to be much more aware of the need to address diversity. We saw excellent evidence that products are being developed to face these market changes“.
This year’s Category winners:
Category: Interior equipment, furnishings, materials and electric fittings used in cabins.
Besenzoni P 400 Matrix: a neoprene-upholstered helm seat equipped with headrest, armrests and adjustable footrests and automated seat lifting system. The jury praised the product for its innovative and elegant design.
Category: Machinery, propulsion, mechanical and electrical systems and fittings
Oceanvolt Servoprop : a revolutionary electrical saildrive which, thanks the variable propellet pitch, can function both as a propulsion system and an efficient hydro-generator. Servoprop is capable of generating more than 1 kW at 6-8 knots.
Category: Marine equipment, boatyard equipment, boat construction tools an materials.
Seabin V5 Floating Dock: an automated floating debris interception device designed to be installed in a specific “debris problem area” within a port, a yacht club or a marina. A powerful water pump provides the Seabin with 25,000 liters of water per hour (with an energy consumption of just 90 euro cents per day) and is capable of collecting up to half a ton of floating waste and polluting materials a year. Designed to be installed in the calm waters of a marina, it can remove 1.5 kg debris per day.
Category: Marine electronics and marine related software.
Simarine Nereide Smart Marine Power Panel: an advanced power panel monitoring and management system that offers all the benefits than analog panels in terms of mobile connectivity and user-friendliness. It remains active even in the event of digital system failure.
Category: Clothing and Crew accessories.
Zhik Isotak X Extreme Ocean Sailing Apparel:Â an innovative raincoat that provides ocean sailors with excellent performance in extreme conditions. Its Adaptive Collar System offers the best collar according to the different weather conditions while the Hydrovision hood was designed to improve face protection and visibility. According to the jury, the product is an extraordinary evidence of how an already perfect product can be further improved.
Category: Lifesaving and safety equipment
Weems & Plath CrewWatcher: an app-based crew overboard alarm system that represents the fastest way to rescue a person who is overboard. It works with a smartphone/ tablet application and a small beacon that can be comfortably worn by each crew. In a Man OverBoard event, the alarm immediately provides coordinates of the MOB event on the screen of the electronic device. Fast, safe, user-friendly and affordable, it can even be used by kids and pets. Response time is significantly lower than the Ais system’s one.
