The Southampton Boat Show was the venue for the re-dedication of Mike Golding’s IMOCA 60 – GAMESA. We caught up with Mike and asked about how he managed to secure sponsorship for the Vendee Globe and what it means for his chances.
We also caught up with Peter Pantlin, UK Chief Corporate Officer at Gamesa Corporacion Tecnologica and asked him what the company was looking to achieve.
Why has Gamesa got involved?
The fit with the offshore wind sector is the driving force. The HQ of the offshore wind division is in London. We have an R&D center in Glasgow and potentially some other manufacturing bases elsewhere in the UK. So we are totally committed to the development of our activities in the UK.
Clearly Mike, a British sailor, a British boat – that all seemed to make a considerable amount of sense.
The wind connection – between sailing and what we are doing is obvious, but over and above that, when you analyse what sailing is all about – it’s a high-tech, engineering business which is exactly what we are.
Both from a UK perspective, but also from an engineering perspective, we thought this was a good fit. Also, though Gamesa is a Spanish based company it is totally global.
This is the first deal of this kind undertaken by GAMESA?
This is to the best of my knowledge the first ever sports sponsorship that GAMESA has ever undertaken.
Was it a question of Mike being in the right place at the right time?
I think that is fair to say. Clearly the company was looking at what it could do and it all fell into place very well.
Are there things you will learn from each other?
Very much so. I think we are beginning to see that without getting too specific at this stage. clearly there are things that we can help Mike with, with regards to engineering and technology – and I am sure, since he has done this race a few times, I am sure it will be a two way relationship.
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