Scanstrut earns DAME Award 2017

Amsterdam, Netherlands (November 14, 2017) – The annual DAME Design Award 2017 competition has selected Scanstrut as the DAME 2017 winner for its RS Venture Connect Conversion Kit. A further six products were named as Category Winners and 16 received Special Mentions.

The competition jury had selected 64 products from a total field of 122 entries to enter the final round. This year’s entry of nominees from 22 countries demonstrated the continued growth of interest in the DAME Awards, which is held in conjunction with the METSTRADE Show in Amsterdam.

The Scanstrut Venture Connect Conversion Kit retrospectively adapts an RS Venture, a dinghy designed for able-bodied sailors that is already in common use in many training and sailing centres. The plug and play kit includes a combined battery and control pack, a powered mainsheet winch, joystick control and sip-puff headset option.

Fully self-contained, the kit enables a sailing instructor to convert the boat to one suitable for use by those with a wide range of disabilities, including paraplegia, in only 30 minutes.

The Jury praised Scanstrut for delivering a well-designed and fully integrated solution with attention to every detail that will allow a broader range of disabled people to get on the water and enjoy the same benefits as others.

Commenting on the result, Chairwoman of the Jury, Birgit Schnaase stated: “I work a lot in the superyacht sector and saw good entries that apply there, but I was also pleased to see products with personal applications that you can touch, see, feel and understand. Our overall winner is a very good example of that.

“The marine sector’s end users are changing – the younger generations often do not have their own boat and need highly accessible products; the industry’s wealthier customers have individual and often very different ideas of what they demand of a boat and its equipment. We also need to be much more aware of the need to address diversity. We saw welcome evidence that products are being developed to address these market changes.

“Our strong team of new and existing Jury members are highly qualified across many disciplines, including interior, engineering, systems and industrial design and naval architecture, as well as user application. They each saw entries this year of particular interest in their own fields and applied their own considerable knowledge and experience to the debate. There were many detailed discussions throughout our time together about the products themselves and the effect they will have within the marine industry in future days.”

This year’s Category winners:

MARINE ELECTRONICS AND MARINE RELATED SOFTWARE
SIMARINE NEREIDE Smart Marine Power Panel

INTERIOR EQUIPMENT, FURNISHINGS, MATERIALS AND ELECTRICAL FITTINGS USED IN CABINS
Besenzoni P400 Matrix

MARINA EQUIPMENT, BOATYARD EQUIPMENT AND BOAT CONSTRUCTION TOOLS AND MATERIALS
Seabin

DECK EQUIPMENT, SAILS AND RIGGING
Scanstrut RS Venture Connect Conversion Kit

CLOTHING AND CREW ACCESSORIES
Zhik Isotak X Extreme Ocean Sailing Apparel

LIFESAVING AND SAFETY EQUIPMENT
CrewWatcher submitted by Weems & Plath

MACHINERY, PROPULSION, MECHANICAL AND ELECTRICAL SYSTEMS AND FITTINGS
Oceanvolt Servoprop

DAME 2017 winner
Scanstrut RS Venture Connect Conversion Kit

Special mentions:

MARINE ELECTRONICS AND MARINE RELATED SOFTWARE
• C Designs DecklincGP
• Digital Yacht Nomad Portable Class B AIS Transponder
• FLIR M232 Marine Thermal Camera (submitted by Raymarine UK Ltd.)

INTERIOR EQUIPMENT, FURNISHINGS, MATERIALS AND ELECTRICAL FITTINGS USED IN CABINS
• B.C.M. Illuminazione Surf Plate R

MARINA EQUIPMENT, BOATYARD EQUIPMENT AND BOAT CONSTRUCTION TOOLS AND MATERIALS
• 3D|CORE XPS DELTA
• CarenEcolo mobile antifouling wastewater filtration system
• Tessilmare Bino-X RubRail

DECK EQUIPMENT, SAILS AND RIGGING
• Ropeye U-Block
• SNA Dodger & Cover Designs Bimini KanvasLight
• Boatasy GHOOK submitted by SPINAKER d.o.o.
• SUREFAS CAF-COMPO screw-stud

CLOTHING AND CREW ACCESSORIES
• Blood Red INTEGRA
• Ocean Rodeo Sports Ignite Drysuit
• McMurdo SmartFind G8 AIS

MACHINERY, PROPULSION, MECHANICAL AND ELECTRICAL SYSTEMS AND FITTINGS
• Jefa Electric Steering System
• Kabola KB-Ecoline Hybrid

For the full list of nominees… click here.

About the DAME Award
The 27th Design Award METSTRADE competition attracted 122 products from 22 countries. A total of 64 products were shortlisted for final consideration. The globally significant DAME Awards is unique in its aim and ability to promote everything that is important about marine equipment design. It continues to see new and exciting product developments for the Jury to examine, reflecting the progress of METSTRADE exhibitors as they continue to push boundaries and work to match the ever-increasing expectations of the marine industry’s customers and its supply chain.

In making its judgements, the DAME Jury seeks to emphasise the importance of design for all marine products, from aesthetics to functionality, integration to packaging and price efficiency to lifecycle management. It also considers the expected impact of entries on the marine industry, their suitability for intended purpose, the level of innovation, cost, ease of use or installation and environmental impact.

DAME Jury 2017
Several DAME Jury members completed their term in 2016 and were replaced by experts such as the renowned naval architect and boat designer Olivier Racoupeau and multidisciplinary designer Davide Cipriani from Centrostiledesign. Two guest Jury members were welcomed to the panel – Klaus Röder of Carpe Diem Yacht Design and freelance technical journalist David Marsh.

Birgit Schnaase took over the DAME Awards chair from Bill Dixon, who thus concluded his successful time at the helm. Schnaase is no stranger to DAME, having first joined the Jury in 2012, and provided valuable insight from her 22 years of experience as an engineer and interior designer working on notable yacht, aircraft and house interior design projects.

This year’s DAME Jury was made up of nine leading industry experts:

• B. Schnaase, Schnaase Interior Design, Germany – chair of the DAME Jury
• N. Calder, independent technical marine journalist, USA
• P. Hemp, ICOMIA, United Kingdom
• Dr A. J. Jansen, TU Delft, the Netherlands
• J.F. de Prémorel, Beneteau Groupe, France
• O. Racoupeau, Berret-Racoupeau Yacht Design, France
• D. Cipriani, Centrostiledesign, Italy
• K. Röder, Carpe Diem Yacht Design, Germany
• D. Marsh, technical marine journalist, United Kingdom

The DAME 2017 Jury was supported by the non-voting secretary K. Hollamby from the United Kingdom.

About METSTRADE
METSTRADE is the world’s largest trade exhibition of equipment, materials and systems for the international marine leisure industry. It is organised by RAI Amsterdam in association with ICOMIA (International Council of Marine Industry Associations). The show’s target groups are yacht builders, naval architects, repair yards, distributors, dealers, wholesalers, captains, marina operators and equipment manufacturers from around the world.

Three dedicated specialist pavilions are part of METSTRADE: the SuperYacht Pavilion, the Marina & Yard Pavilion and the Construction Material Pavilion.

Source: METSTRADE.COM