Named after Freeman K. Pittman, SAIL’s long-time technical editor who died of Lou Gehrig’s disease in 1996, the Pittman Innovation awards recognize outstanding new products created by a sailing industry that remains forever fresh in its thinking.

Sailing has always been a technology-driven activity, and the spirit of innovation that prompted the first Stone Age sailor to cast off and let the wind do the work remains as vibrant today as ever. Of course, many of today’s innovations harness the now commonplace miracles that are part and parcel of the modern era. Nonetheless, a surprising number are the product of good-old common sense, the kind of thing that prompt you to wonder, “Now why didn’t I think of that?”
This is the second recognition for LOOPX after the nomination to the Dame Award at Mets 2013.
We really really proud of the achievement and really thanks the team of judges Adam Court, Charles J. Doane, Jay Paris, Ben Ellison and David Schmidt and working hard to come up with even more impressive products.

SPK is an innovative system developed by PROtect tapes with the support of professional sailors to hoist gennaker and spinnaker much safer and to respect the environment. Today there are various solutions to pack these sails, some very expensive, others less safe.
In designing the product, special attention had been devoted to the material and the choice went to of buttons made of recycled materials. 
They must be applied to the luff tape of the sails.
They can be glued, sewn or screwed. All methods are very simple, no special skills required. 
Additionally, the characteristic V-shaped groove is capable of retaining the thread till the sail is dropped.
At first the end of the string is wrapped around the button then around the compacted sail and finally around the button again.

The operation is very simple and can be performed by one person only.
There are no more knots, reducing the time required to compact the sail.
When the sail is set and the threads broken, the sail expresses all its propulsive force.
The broken threads are retained from the throat of each button, without falling into the sea, whether of wool or biodegradable and compostable material like our yarn ball SPK003 (not included in the kit).
The crew will then remove them when the sail is lowered or at the end of the race.
SPK allows therefore to get back to the method used in the past, now much cheaper and environmentally friendly to respect our planet.
Finally the packaging, extreme reduction to the lowest possible level.

To watch the video

Advantages

• all materials are recycled and recyclable
• low cost
• environmental friendly use
• compliance to the regulations of our sport and the code of ethics
• less dexterity is required 
• no need for help to compact the sail
• standardization of the packing process
• possibility of packing only one portion of the sail
• reduction of the sail preparation time
• increases reliability