- Her Royal Highness, The Duchess of Cambridge opens new 'Tech Deck' Education Centre at the home of Land Rover BAR – Britain's team to bring the America's Cup home
- The team's Royal Patron joins local school children for the first interactive STEM Crew lesson in the new Education Centre
- Sir Ben Ainslie and the sailing team train with The Duchess 'flying' on-board 'T1'- one of the team's development boats, a foiling 45-foot catamaran
Friday 20th May 2016, Portsmouth: Today, Sir Ben Ainslie's British America's Cup challenger Land Rover BAR hosted a visit at their Portsmouth home from Her Royal Highness, The Duchess of Cambridge - the Royal Patron of their official charity, the 1851 Trust. The Duchess joined Land Rover BAR Team Principal and Skipper Sir Ben Ainslie and Sir Keith Mills, Chairman of the 1851 Trust, to conduct the official opening of the team's interactive 'Tech Deck' Education Centre.
The 'Tech Deck' offers a unique behind-the-scenes experience with hands-on interactive exhibits, enabling young people to get close to the boats, team, and technologies in a development that will allow the team to fly faster and sail smarter; helping the British challenger achieve their goal to bring the America's Cup home for the first time in its 165-year history.
The 'Tech Deck' is unusual amongst educational resource centres as it is based at the home of a working professional sports team. Developed for Key Stage 3 of the National Curriculum, the aim is to foster and ignite young people's interest in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) and aims to inspire students to continue on to careers in these essential fields.
Throughout the centre the team have shared and demonstrated the many challenges the team face in designing, building and racing in the America's Cup, as well as the roles science and technology play in designing boats that fly, and areas such as sailing tactics.
During the visit The Duchess participated in a pilot 'STEMCrew' digital lesson with young people from local St Edmund's Catholic School, Portsmouth. STEMcrew is an online educational resource developed by the 1851 Trust and will be provided for free to teachers to explore science and engineering principles with their students. A painting was unveiled to commemorate the opening of the Tech Deck, which included work The Duchess had painted during a visit to an 1851 Trust art project back in February 2015.
The Duchess also took 'flight' with the team on-board their test boat 'T1' - a foiling AC45 catamaran - taking control and steering the boat out on the race course for the forthcoming Louis Vuitton America's Cup World Series Portsmouth (LVACWS) event from 22-24 July. During the training session on the Solent, home to the original America's Cup race course in 1851, the team reached speeds of 33 knots (38 mph) in perfect, but demanding conditions.
Ben Ainslie said: "It was fantastic to take our Royal Patron on-board T1 during our training session on the Solent today. We gave her the helm and we were flying along at 33 knots, out on the ACWS Portsmouth race course, you can tell she has done a lot of sailing, she was a natural on-board.
"It is also great to have The Duchess' support with opening the team's new 'Tech Deck' and Education Centre. A lot of work has gone into developing this facility for young people and we hope to inspire more young people to consider opportunities and careers within STEM subjects and the marine sector in the future."
Mark Cameron, Jaguar Land Rover Global Brand Experience Director said "Land Rover is proud to be title partner and exclusive innovation partner to Land Rover BAR, a partnership based on shared vision and values. As well as helping the team to design the most technologically advanced boat in America's Cup history we remain dedicated to inspiring the youth of today and tomorrow into engineering, science and technology careers. The opening of the Land Rover BAR Tech Deck will mean that, along with Jaguar Land Rover's extensive STEM programmes, both organisations will inspire and educate around 300,000 young people a year.
"Land Rover is delighted to be bringing two engaging and interactive exhibits to the new Tech Deck at Land Rover BAR. The first, 'Stable Flight', is an immersive, virtual reality experience that involves steering the race boat whilst keeping it stable on its foils. The second, 'Control vs. Speed', consists of three touch screen display monitors that enable users to design their own boat to race. Using an interactive sliding scale, users can alter the wing, daggerboards and rudders to understand how different elements effect the boat's performance."
Whilst in Portsmouth, Her Royal Highness also launched the 1851 Trust's two flagship sailing projects for 2016 in partnership with UKSA and the Andrew Simpson Sailing Foundation. The projects are aimed at getting more than 3,000 young people from a wide demographic into the sport over the next two years. A unique aspect of the programme is working with schools to deliver STEMcrew as part of the sailing projects, engaging young people in the STEM curriculum in a unique and relevant environment, all inspired by Ben Ainslie's quest to Bring the Cup Home.
HRH met some of the team and the children involved in the projects, who showed off the boats that are used in the sailing activity.
For further information on the 1851 Trust sailing projects go to www.1851trust.org.uk
ENDS
Editors Notes:
Land Rover
Since 1948 Land Rover has been manufacturing authentic 4x4s that represent true 'breadth of capability' across the model range. Defender, Discovery, Discovery Sport, Range Rover Sport, Range Rover and Range Rover Evoque each define the world's 4x4 sectors, with 80% of this model range exported to over 170 countries.
Notes for Editors
About Land Rover BAR
Sarah Alexander, Land Rover BAR Press Officer
e. Sarah.alexander@landroverbar.com t. +44 7766 391 276 / +44 1489 587 838
Ben Ainslie Racing (BAR) was launched on June 10th 2014 in the presence of Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cambridge. The team was conceived by four times Olympic gold medalist and 34th America's Cup winner, Sir Ben Ainslie, with the long-term aim of challenging for Britain and bringing the America's Cup back home to where it all began in 1851. Ben has developed and will lead a British entry capable of winning the prestigious trophy, something Britain has so far never managed to achieve.
Land Rover BAR is a commercial sporting team, with a number of individual private investors alongside corporate partners. The team is made up of some of the best British and international sailors, designers, builders and racing support.
Sports teams represent key role models in society. This privileged position is not taken for granted at Land Rover BAR. The team believe our influence should extend far beyond the race course, and have put sustainability at the heart of operations since launching the team with Exclusive Sustainability Partner 11th Hour Racing in 2014.
The team have built a new headquarters in the centre of Portsmouth, the 74,000 sq ft. building houses all the team's activities, and will welcome school children and young people into it's newly opened 'Tech Deck' education centre.
The 1851 Trust is the team's official charity, and HRH The Duchess of Cambridge is its Royal Patron.
Portsmouth will host a second Louis Vuitton America's Cup World Series event on 21st-24th July 2016. Almost a quarter of a million spectators enjoyed the action in Portsmouth in 2015, with 25,000 of them taking to the water - more are expected to come back in 2016 to watch the racing and cheer for the home team.
LandRoverBAR.com #BringTheCupHome
About Royal Yacht Squadron Racing Ltd
Royal Yacht Squadron Racing Ltd is a club affiliated to the Royal Yacht Squadron and Land Rover BAR will be their sailing team in the challenge for the 35th America's Cup. Founded in 1815, the Royal Yacht Squadron is regarded as one of the most prestigious yacht clubs in the world. Its clubhouse is located in Cowes Castle on the Isle of Wight in the United Kingdom. The Squadron's patron is Queen Elizabeth II and the Squadron's Admiral is Prince Philip.
https://www.rys.org.uk