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Winning Barcolana 50 – case study

Jan 9, 2019

“We are immensely proud that the winning boat of the Barcolana had our sails, designed with AzureProject”, says Renzo Sorci, designer at Olimpic Sails and AzureProject user for more than a decade.

He continues: “The Barcolana is not only a regatta, it involves the whole city of Trieste for about ten days, an event joined by 300 thousand people with boats coming from many different countries. Being chosen by the defender ‘Spirit of Portopiccolo’, who represented the city of Trieste, has been a huge responsibility and honour.”

For Portopiccolo we created a Code 0, which was hoisted just 4 minutes after the start of the race and proved to be the winning move, as mentioned by the crew at the end of the race. Since the start, Spirit of Portopiccolo increased the lead and rounded the first mark 52 seconds ahead, completing the course in record pace after 57 minutes.

“Winning that historical event made us very proud and happy”, says Renzo.

Click here to read the full article

Looking ahead to 2019

Jan 8, 2019

2018 has been another busy year at SMAR Azure, but we are pleased to have achieved all our targets!

Here’s a quick summary: 

Donald MacVicar, SMAR Azure CTO
  • Our company, SMAR Azure, won the “Best Business in Edinburgh” at the Scottish SME Business Awards.
  • We have released 7 new versions of AzureProject: the integrated sail design and optimisation software. As usual, we put a lot of effort in improving features related to production. Major improvements were made on the mitre cuts and the fibre layout tool.
  • We have also released new versions of RigEdge – the unique rig design software, which now includes sailing load analysis for very complex rigs.
  • Our R&D team expanded with two new engineers – Neil Adams and Alejandro Ivanez – as we work closely with our customers to support their daily jobs.
  • Moreover, we are very happy that many of our customers have designed sails that are winning important competitions all over the world.

We had not only a successful 2018, but also a truly interesting user-group meeting at METS – we are already focused on the next developments! Here are just some of the features we’re planning for early 2019:

  1. Negative Tack Heights – to facilitate design for decksweeper style sails.
  2. Design and attachment to the rig for top sails, and gaff top sail in particular.
  3. Adding design of patches for batten ends, as simple triangles, or rounded shapes.

… and many more… keep following us for updating news!

Warm Wishes,
Donald MacVicar
SMAR Azure CTO