Boat building team announced

GBR Challenge today announced the boat building team for their new ACC yacht

GBR Challenge today formally announced the boat building team for the construction of the new ACC yacht, at the GBR Challenge base in Cowes.
The project will be led by two Australian boat builders, Jason Akers and Brandon Linton, who are both experienced America's Cup yacht builders having worked as the leading hands on One Australia 95, one of the only America's Cup Class boats to snap in half, and Abracadabra 2000. Akers and Linton, who have worked together constructing yachts for seven years, will be leading hands in the yacht construction which is due to start in early November 2001 with the yacht expected to be launched in April 2002.

A boat building manager will be appointed to supervise the budget and ordering process for the construction and to oversee the build process on behalf of the Challenge. He will also be charged with recording the build process, to build a database of information for future British America's Cup Challenges.

Linton and Akers will work with a construction team of about 20 people, many of who will be local residents from the Cowes and Southampton areas. This team will work closely with the design and technology team to construct the yacht within the tight time schedule. Once construction is underway, the team will work around 10 to 12 hours per day, to ensure the yacht is ready for action when the sailing team return from New Zealand in April.

David Barnes, GBR Challenge General Manager commented, It's great that Jason and Brandon have joined the team, they're a talented pair who I'm sure will do a great job with the new ACC yacht. They have a lot of previous experience in building this type of yacht and will be a strong asset to the team."

Preparations for the yacht's construction have been going on for some time, with Akers and Linton working as part of a six man team making up the test tank models and setting up the facility. This includes building a 100 foot oven, large enough to 'cook' a modern ACC boat in, as well as preparing vacuum tables and tooling for component work.

The basic phases of construction of the new yacht are:

1 mould, tooling construction for hull, deck and components
2 laminating hull, deck and components using carbon fibre pre-press and honeycomb cores, cooked at 100 degrees
3 vacuum consolidating using SP Systems as the composite suppliers to GBR Challenge
4 construction of the yacht, including fitting and laminating the structure, fairing, painting, fitting the deck and winch systems
5 fitting boat and keel
6 measuring the boat to keep in accordance with ACC rules and their measures

Akers and Linton set up their own company in1998, Australia, called Composite Creations International, which continues to thrive. Originally from Sydney, the pair are now living in Cowes and are looking forward to working closely with all the teams involved with GBR Challenge to achieve the best result.

Commenting on their roles, Akers said "We're really excited to be involved in the GBR Challenge. We're endeavouring to tap into the local boat building talent, especially in the Cowes region. We're looking forward to sharing our experience with them and hope to work with them in a British America's Cup campaign in the future."