Elandflex Cable takes the boating world by storm

Ask most sports fans about high-powered boating events – such as the 2009 Solar Splash World Championship – and they’ll talk about the thrill of the chase and the speed and manoeuvrability of the boats. That is, if they don’t work for Eland Cables. For when our team heard about the results of the recent solar-powered boat competition they only had one thing on their minds – Elandflex Cable.

Back in May, Team ‘Tarka’ from Southampton University took to the water at the annual university solar-powered boat championships held in Fayetteville, Arkansas. (You can find out all about the team’s trials, tactics and Telemetry on their race blog http://tarka.ecs.soton.ac.uk/blog.php). As the first UK team to enter the long-running sustainable technology event, we were really excited when they approached us about becoming sponsors and using our Elandflex Cable in the electrical systems on board Tarka. Being one of the only UK cable suppliers with IS014001 environmental accreditation, we were only too happy to support a team committed to doing their best for the UK and the environment.

By connecting the battery to the motor, our PVC flexible cable helped the team overcome a whole host of water-based challenges to finish in 10th place overall – scooping up the Teamwork Award, the Sportsmanship Award, and winning ‘Best Score for a Rookie Team’ along the way. Admittedly, team members Dirk De Jager, Karim El-Shabrawy, Rich Bowen and Peter Wilson should take most of the credit for achieving such a great result on their first attempt – but we do believe Elandflex had a crucial part to play.

We’re pretty proud of our Elandflex Cable – not to mention the few connectors we sent for good measure – for picking up a string of awards at the competition. We hear it’s still making the most of its newfound fame – it was last seen on its way back to Southampton where it will be appearing at the Boat Show, before doing a tour of local schools to promote engineering as a career. And Team Tarka is already planning next year’s race, so Elandflex could be making a return to the water as early as 2010.

For those of you inspired by Tarka and tempted to put a length of this single core PVC flexible cable to the test, we’ve got a 3D model on the Eland Cables website and a downloadable spec sheet to keep you entertained. Or, if you’ve used our other cables in something equally exciting, why not tell us about it? It’s time the rest of our electrical cable range got to share the spotlight.