Even though Lumotics technicians dedicate most of their time working on modern superyachts, they do occasionally get a request to work on something rather more traditional. Most recently they were asked to apply their skills on work for the sailing yacht Earl of Pembroke, a 48-metre wooden barque, which was built in Sweden in the mid-1940s.
Earl of Pembroke on June13
Originally a working vessel hauling timber around the Baltic Sea, more recently she has featured in movies including the Hornblower franchise, Treasure Island and Frenchman’s Creek. She is now owned by a Russian company and recently underwent a major refit. On this project, Lumotics worked alongside Landau UK, a specialist in the supply and installation of all types of marine equipment.
The brief was to provide an innovative lighting solution based around the fact that the Earl of Pembroke has been fitted with highly distinctive red sails. This is due to the ship’s involvement in the annual Scarlet Sail celebration that takes place each year in St. Petersburg, Russia. This event culminates in the arrival after dark and in front of enormous crowds of a tall ship with red sails.
The challenge for Lumotics was to supply and install a lighting system within the rigging that would provide the suitable directional wash of light in a wide range of colours yet be almost invisible so as to not show up in historical feature films. To achieve this Pidge Scales and his team installed five, RGB LED 40-watt fittings in the rigging with control provided by Lumotics Mood Magic and Switch Magic units.
Between them the units provide a highly reliable, fully marinised switching and control solution. Commands to the units can be input from anywhere on board using a tablet or smartphone running the Lumotics app and connected to the onboard Wi-Fi. A full range of lighting effects can be pre-programmed to deliver impressive light shows or smooth switching from one mode to another at the touch of a finger.
This year’s Scarlet Sails took place in St Petersburg on 23 June and the sailing yacht Earl of Pembroke appeared in front of a crowd of over one million people.
