The inaugural IMechE Wessex Region Engineering Excellence awards, held last week, saw the UK composites experts, Magma Structures, receive the ‘Outstanding Project of the Year’ award for the engineering design and manufacture of the world’s tallest carbon composite masts, which were recently delivered and installed on the Sailing Superyacht ‘A’. Moreover, the company also won the overall Engineering Excellence award at the black tie event held in Winchester.

Double win for Magma Structures at the 2015 Excellence Engineering Awards for Sailing Superyacht A

Magma Structures were honoured with the awards for the recent completion of the composite rigs for Sailing Mega Yacht ‘A’, which are amongst the most technically challenging free-standing carbon composite structures to have been manufactured to date. At over 90m, they are the world’s tallest carbon composite masts. The rigs are able to withstand bending loads of more than twice the load on a Boeing Dreamliner wing. Each mast can rotate using systems mounted on ‘wings’ at the side of each mast, adding to both the design complexity, as well as the build challenge. The masts support a sail area greater than a standard sized football pitch.

142m sailing mega yacht A – Image credit to Pascal Deis and Starck Network

Clive Johnson, Managing Director of Magma Structures, said: “We were delighted to win not just the Outstanding Project of the Year but also the overall Engineering Excellence award at the IMechE Wessex awards event. It is a fantastic accolade for the whole team at Magma Structures who for the past three and a half years have been involved in the engineering design and manufacture of these incredible composite masts. To have our achievements in terms of engineering excellence recognised is a real boost for the team.”