Sunglasses for Performance Sailors – Bollé Sponsors and Tests

November 16, 2022

Sunglass manufacturer, Bollé, is showing its dedication to returning to the forefront of the nautical scene in the field of ocean racing and comes equipped with products for the needs of skippers in all forms of performance sailing. It is demonstrating this commitment to the sport with a significant sponsorship via the 12th Route du Rhum transatlantic race that kicked off last week after a weather delay at the start in St Malo.

Bollé is outfitting six skippers in four different categories: Ultim, Ocean Fifty, Imoca and Class 40 in this challenging solo event.

The company understands that whether you’re in Victoria or Oakville, as much as offshore, the need for eyewear on racing boats is significant. In their Route du Rhum story, the company notes that Charles Caudrelier, the skipper of Gitana, will be wearing the HOLMAN model in prescription with Bollé’s proprietary photochromic polarized Phantom + lens technology:

“What I’m looking for is obviously the protection of my eyes, but when we’re sailing, we also watch the wind on the water a lot to know if a gust is coming and if the conditions are changing. In this case the quality of the sunglasses will make a big difference, especially in relation to the contrast on the water, and this allows us to anticipate what maneuver we’re going to have to make. This is a key point in terms of tactics. I use the Phantom + technology, which is useful because there are different intensities of light and it allows you to always wear the same pair whatever the conditions. For the last few years, I’ve also needed sunglasses that adapt to my eyesight and the fact that Bollé can provide them in prescription is important because otherwise I wouldn’t be able to read my trip computers and the many numbers on them!” This certainly resonates with most of us.

Quentin Vlamynck

As part of continuous testing and commitment, Bollé has outfitted three skippers in the Ocean Fifty category: Erwan LE ROUX (Koesio), Sébastien ROGUES (Primonial) and Quentin VLAMYNCK (Arkema). Vlamynck is the youngest skipper in the category, and he has already won the 2022 edition of the Pro Sailing Tour and could be the surprise of this race. During the fall training sessions and after several tests, the VULTURE model, and its VOLT+ technology was worked well.

These different partnerships are opportunities for Bollé to continue to develop and create more efficient and innovative products. Whether they are competing with Phantom + or VOLT+, the Bollé brand is proud to offer skippers an incomparable visual experience with high-performance polarization. With Phantom + and its photochromic lens, the comfort and vision are unparalleled for the changing conditions that skippers encounter while with VOLT + the result will be an increase in color perception thanks to lenses developed with artificial intelligence, 20 million combinations were analyzed before coming up with this single formula.