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Sail Ventures expands into new premises to meet growing demand

Wednesday, March 7, 2007

This week innovative yacht builder Sail Ventures Ltd announced their move into larger premises in Cowes to cater for demand for their new ‘Express 40’ racing yachts, just over six months on from first setting up on the Isle of Wight.

Sail Ventures are a growing business, pioneering new methods in hull manufacture to produce these beautiful and very fast racing yachts. With the help of the Isle of Wight Economic Partnership, the company moved into in East Cowes late last year creating 8 new jobs and have now moved across the river to Medina Yard in Cowes.

The Express 40 uses the latest composites moulding techniques and is constructed using top quality SP Systems products from Newport based composites specialist, Gurit. The order for the sixth boat has recently been placed by an anonymous racing celebrity.

Paul Metcalf, Managing Director of Sail Ventures said, “We are incredibly pleased with the level of orders, it has given us the confidence to expand and we intend to double our capacity over the next 12 months.”
He continued, “Cowes is the perfect base for us we have everything we need here, skills, suppliers, designers. Our customers are from all over the world, not only is the Cowes pedigree a plus point for them but the proximity of ferries and Southampton airport makes it pretty easy for them to visit us to see how their boats are progressing”

The Isle of Wight Economic Partnership has been working with Sail Ventures since June last year to help them set up on the Isle of Wight. Paul Metcalf said, “The help from Matthew Hill at IWEP has been invaluable, making it much easier to find and move into the premises and get up and running quickly.”

Mike King, Managing Director of the Isle of Wight Economic Partnership, said “we are really pleased that Sail Ventures have chosen the Isle of Wight as their base. They are another example of how the Island is becoming a magnet for truly innovative, high value businesses especially in the composites and marine sectors.

He also made the point that, “There are other benefits to having businesses like Sail Ventures here - these yachts have a real prestige about them and will attract interest from potential buyers across the globe, - this gives us fantastic opportunities to showcase the Island’s other benefits, both business and leisure to new audiences.”