Future Fibres makes carbon cables, masts, booms, spreaders and custom components.
"Future Fibres has long been an innovator in the field of advanced fiber rigging," said Tom Whidden, CEO of North Technology Group. "With NTG's support, Southern Spars now has the resources to provide our customers with a wider range of advanced rigging options.”
Future Fibres first entered the composite rigging market after its founder Tom Hutchinson devised a better way to terminate composite fibers by continuously winding PBO (Zylon) fiber around two titanium thimbles at any required length. Future Fibres' approach has allowed composite rigging to be used on every area of the boat and not restricted to just aft rigging as it historically was before.
Depressed market
"The team at Southern Spars is excited about the acquisition of Future Fibres," said Richard Lott, CEO of Southern Spars. "The mast and rigging market is quite depressed after the GFC which has been putting pressure on Southern Spars and Future Fibres' business. However, the Future Fibres team has developed some advanced mast moulding technologies which complement our advanced computer-based rig design tools."
