London Olympics – The Galleon
Dan Shipton, from London 2012 Ceremonies, gave us our first Olympic order which was for a 15 metre long galleon to be used in the Closing Ceremony. The design was to be based on a long boat and had to be pushed around by 16 persons inside the hull. This necessitated the galleon being very lightweight and able to be manoeuvred up and down the ramps from the outside of the stadium to the centre of the field of play. We integrated aircraft style steps into the starboard side of the galleon to enable easy access to the deck of the galleon from stage level. Having had recent experience building scale model boats enabled us to quickly design and manufacture this interesting piece and deliver it a month ahead of schedule. It turned out that Annie Lennox was performing on it and we can all be justifiably proud of our efforts which looked spectacular on the night! The next day a low loader brought the galleon back up the M1 / M6 to us for recycling as part of our responsibility in helping make the games sustainable.
