A boat reinforced with flax fibres has raced in the Transat 6.50 Charente-Maritime, crossing the line in 15th place – despite many competitors being forced to abandon due to extremely harsh weather conditions.
Thibault Reinhart, skipper of the ‘Araldite’, explains that the boat was designed with the intention of proving the possibilities of building solid and robust racing boats from environmentally friendly natural fibres.
To develop the flax reinforced system, Lineo, a Belgium company specialising in flax reinforcements, provided the diverse fibres, specially treated to ensure perfect compatibility between the flax and an Araldite warm curing system. Huntsman and Lineo issued the necessary laminate mechanical properties used for designing the boat’s diverse parts. In total, flax fibre constitutes 50% of the boat’s structure, with the remaining 50% being reinforced with traditional carbon fibres.
Having left La Rochelle on 25th September, Thibault Reinhart arrived in Salvador de Bahia on 2nd November after 28 days, 20 hours and eight seconds at sea on board the ‘Araldite’.
Huntsman Advanced Materials
