Sep 5 2004
The designer of a life-saving, ‘man overboard’ boating device has won the 2004 BeST Product Design Award in the student category.
Massey University design graduate Leon Oliver’s ‘Sentinel’ is designed to protect a crew member who has fallen overboard at sea. The user can climb into a raft, which has been remotely deployed from the vessel by the victim using an electronic watch. The watch is also designed to activate an onboard alarm to alert the crew to the accident.
“It’s a real honour to win,” he says.
Mr Oliver, a yachtsman, said one of the most terrifying aspects of crossing oceans is the possibility of losing a crew member overboard.
“Sometimes the nearest help can be as far away as 24 hours or more. And often, when a victim falls overboard, the crew may not be aware of the accident, which threatens the victim’s chance of survival.
“In designing the Sentinel, I hoped to overcome these obstacles through creating a unique product that redefines the level of protection a boat owner can offer their crew,” he says.
The 25-year-old Auckland resident’s design consists of the digital watch and a raft which is held in place at the stern of the boat by a deployment arm.
"When it hits the water, an aerial pops up with a strobe light on it. Once you've swum to it, you can either hang on to the raft until the boat reaches you, or if it appears the boat may take some time to turn around, a CO2 cylinder quickly inflates the raft, and the sailor can climb inside."
The life raft would be made from conventional materials and cost about $5000.
"It might sound expensive, but boat owners in this market place a high priority on having the best life-saving equipment available," he says.
The Best Design Awards is the annual awards program presented by The Designers Institute of New Zealand to showcase and celebrate the best work the design industry has to offer.
Lyn Garrett from Massey’s school of design says “It is pleasing to see our design graduates continuing a fine record of achievement.”
Graduates of Massey University’s School of Design are three of the six finalists in the product category. In the graphic category, six of the 19 finalists are Massey students or graduates.
“Our graduates continue to made significant contributions to the design industry, in companies such as Weta Digital, Karen Walker and Icebreaker,” says Mr Garrett.
Leon, originally from Thames, grew up cruising with the family off the Coromandel coast and racing in Auckland. After high school he worked in sail making in Auckland, and half way through his degree at Massey he took a year off to join Grant Dalton's Italian team in the Volvo Ocean Race, Nautor challenge.
"I was a shore based sail maker, meeting the boat at various ports around the world repairing and reshaping broken sails," he says. "And through having that experience - and making those contacts - the idea of a man overboard project came about."
Leon says current solutions to the man overboard scenario are broad, and there is not a 'complete system'. He started by spending six months researching the problem. "I started out without any preconceived ideas, letting the research give the lead, with assistance from the Maritime Safety Authority and NZ Coastguard." Mr Oliver says the product could also be very useful for professional fishers.
http://www.massey.ac.nz