One year after its debut on the most important racing courses in the Mediterranean, Tyrolit celebrates the sponsorship of the sailing association Moonshine. A fruitful combination between the philosophy of the company, part of Swarovski Group, and the founding values of sport.
The decision of the Austrian giant Tyrolit to make its debut in the world of sailing with Team Moonshine, a sports association founded by Stefano Brunello with other keen sailors, proved to have been winning. The racing boats of the Team Moonshine Tyrolit have participated in the most prestigious regattas, always obtaining a podium. With Moonshine, Tyrolit confirms its commitment in sailing, with the aim of promoting sport as an inclusive practice and a way for supporting eco-sustainability and safeguarding the marine environment.
Tyrolit has found in sailing, a sport that has always blended technology with environmental sustainability and innovation with efficiency, the cardinal factors of its corporate philosophy.
Tyrolit and the Moonshine Team: shaping the sailing
As part of the Swarovski group, Tyrolit is one of the largest manufacturers of valuable abrasive tools for automotive, aerospace, medical equipment, gas and wind turbines, skis, knives, bridges, roads, ships, superyachts and racing boats, just to give you some examples.
The debut of the Austrian giant in the yacht industry, through Moonshine Team, aims at the promotion of its Tyrolit Power machines and tools; an innovative sanding system capable of revolutionizing the preparation of surfaces in composite materials, speeding up construction processes, saving time and resources and optimizing the building of yachts, superyachts and luxury boats. Tyrolit Power is a unique and patented product.
The meeting between Tyrolit and Moonshine, says Massimo Barucci, International Sales Director and Country Manager of Tyrolit Italian subsidiary “was born almost by chance. Stefano Brunello, our collaborator for over ten years, told us about his desire to found the Moonshine team and participate in a series of prestigious regattas and we decided to support him, because we have always believed in the sport and the values it represents, as testifies our collaboration with the Austrian National Ski team.”
Moonshine’s goal is to give the opportunity, through its offshore courses addressed to kids who love this sport, to aspire to achieve important goals by training alongside established professionals such as Matteo Sericano, Luca Rosetti and Bacci Del Buono.
“Thanks to important societies like Tyrolit/Moonshine – states Sericano – athletes can live their dreams. But the positive effect of supporting athletes is not limited only to the relationship between sponsor and athlete. The sports companies are the driving force of a research and development that significantly affects all industry, from the sportsman to the amateur user, from the designer to the yard owner or director. It is a kind of circular economy driven by investment and passion, that begins when a company like Tyrolit, believing in the dream of few customers professional sailors, creates the conditions for them to express themselves, at their best”.
Moving on to sailing
Sailing achieves extraordinary results when human skills and technological innovation melt together, while promoting the responsible use of natural resources. Composites play a key role in the construction of high-performance sailing boats that are increasingly fast and performing on the water.
Focusing on composite materials, Tyrolit started working with Moonshine in early September 2023.
Boat industry is quite new, as explained by Engineer Massimo Barucci, International Sales Director and Country Manager of Tyrolit Italian subsidiary: “we approached it following the amazing results obtained in the processing of wind blades, which, for materials, surface shapes and dimensions, can be assimilated to yachts”.
A combination that aims not only to promote the brand of the Austrian giant and, in particular, the Tyrolit Power range in the world of high-performance sports yachts, but also to demonstrate that production processes can be improved with cutting-edge technologies combined with environmental awareness.
Tyrolit Power
Tyrolit Power is a high-performance automatic and semi-automatic machine that allows a prefect surfaces preparation for bonding or painting operations. It is a product that has already revolutionized the finishing of surfaces in other sectors, such as composite materials or aluminum. At a glance, it is now possible to save a lot of time in processing such as grinding hulls, decks and many other components of a yacht or a boat. This acceleration of manual processes, that allows to save up to 75% of the time, is a key factor: with a manual machine equipped with 20 flaps it is possible to process up to 640 sm of surface. “Tyrolit Power can change the rules of the game, bringing construction yards to that level of productivity that other industries have been pursuing for years. The reduction of sanding times is so important that the consequent reduction in production costs could open unexpected scenarios for the superyacht and nautical industry” explains Massimo Barucci.
The choice to sail in the challenging sector of superyacht and boat industry turned out to be a winning one, Barucci explained: “We wanted to begin from the world of sailing, which, like us, has always combined technology, environmental sustainability and fundamental values of sport, such as fairness, commitment and meritocracy”. Tyrolit Power range has been continuously developed in recent years, and now includes products for a wide variety of applications on composite materials, such as cutting, grinding, drilling and milling, up to surface activation with the diamond flaps of Tyrolit Power. These tools in particular have already proved to be the valuable ally of some important customers for a more efficient and ergonomic processing of hull surfaces.
Moonshine
Moonshine SSD S.r.l. was born from the desire to create a sports project closely related to the themes of sustainability and inclusiveness in the most extensive forms possible, through the promotion of sustainable development for all marine, local and non-marine environmentally friendly activities.
The team counts professional sailors, with proven experience in offshore and ocean sailing and participation in regattas such as Giraglia, Coppa del Re, Les Voiles de Saint Tropez, Capri Sailing Week.
Tyrolit and Moonshine successes
Portofino: 2-5 May 2024, Portofino. Wally 80 Aori – 1st classified Open category
Giraglia: 8-11 June 2024, Saint-Tropez. Ker 46 feet Lisa R – 2nd classified IRC1
Massilia Cup: 21-26 June 2024, Marseille – Barcelona. Class 40 Tyrolit – 2nd classified
Palermo Montecarlo: 20-25 August 2024, Palermo – Montecarlo. Class 40 Tyrolit – 1st classified Class 40 and 2nd classified in compensated time
Les Voiles: 28 September – 6 October 2024, Saint-Tropez. Ker 46 feet Lisa R – 2nd classified IRC, category B
Millevele: 21 September 2024, Genoa. 60-foot sloop Tyrolit/Moonshine – 2nd classified category A
Med Max: 29 September 2024, Port Camargue, Sardinia, Balearic Islands, Saïda Resorts (Marocco). Class 40 Tyrolit – 2nd classified, first Italian boat
Middle Sea Race: 19 October 2024, Grand Harbour, Valletta, Malta. Class 40 Tyrolit, 1st classified in class 40 category and 19th in over
Paprec 600: 19 May 2024, Saint Tropez – Tuscan Archipelago – Saint Tropez. Class 40 Tyrolit – 4th classified
Tyrolit and sailing: a combination of excellence and design
Tyrolit Power benefits are not only for the manufacturers, but also for boat refitters and owners. While demonstrating its efficiency on every boat size, the Tyrolit Power can become the solution that makes the difference in the segment of the medium-small boats, where price plays an increasingly important role. Each yard now is looking for more efficient tools that can reduce costs.
Sustainability: Tyrolit can make a difference
Tyrolit is part of a multinational company that is being certified by EcoVadis. Tyrolit is also one of the founders of the oSa, the Abrasive Safety Organisation, and has a dedicated internal department that takes care of corporate social responsibility and sustainable production systems. In the short term, the company will also have to report CO2 emissions for each individual grinding wheel.
Increase productivity and reduce costs
“What is important for us – says the Engineer Massimo Barucci, International Sales Director and Country Manager of Tyrolit Italian subsidiary – is to help the yacht and superyacht industry to evolve its vision: this world has the chance to still embrace the principles of craftsmanship that makes it so exclusive and refined, while setting up an industrial philosophy that allows to significantly reduce time and costs without any quality, design and exclusivity loss. Tyrolit is the only company in the world in the abrasive market that can offer to the boat industry a new product – Tyrolit Power – that goes in this direction. We are a company that provides solutions to increase productivity and reduce costs.”
Some data
Tyrolit, a company part of the Swarovski group, was founded in 1919. Its headquarters are located in Schwaz in Tyrol. In total, the group has 4,500 employees in 29 production units located in 11 countries and on 5 continents. There are 80,000 Tyrolit products in the Metallurgy and Precision, Industrial Trade and Construction divisions. The products are distributed through 37 trading companies and other distributors in 65 countries. The network is constantly expanding.
What’s next?
By 2025, Tyrolit expects to continue its commitment in the developing of more innovative, efficient and sustainable projects like Tyrolit Power, that can improve significantly also the health and safety of operators. This is the aim of the training and consultancy programmes developed by the company, which are constantly being optimized. Good intentions for the coming year, therefore, expressed also in the words of Matteo Sericano: “Our journey does not end here! Now is the time to look ahead. Together, Moonshine and Tyrolit have proven to be a winning team. With this solid basis, my next goal is to participate in some of the most prestigious regattas in the world”.