GBH design’s work emphatically puts Puma’s brand on the map and is truly of celebrity calibre. Puma will not be found wanting for press and profile because the result is a head-turning yacht which, courtesy of its massive red impact and its undeniable novelty, will stand out even among the other colourful entrants of the Volvo Ocean Race.

Just a few years ago, a spectacle like the Puma boat would not have been practically or technically possible. But, like the Volvo Open 70 itself, imaging technologies have not stood still and designs as outrageous as GBH’s can now be printed and applied to more or less anything – ocean racing yachts included.

The job of printing and applying the Puma livery was given, on recommendation, to Southampton based Grapefruit Graphics. Grapefruit’s MD is Andy Yeomans, a lifelong and formerly professional ocean racing sailor himself. »

High profile events like the Volvo Ocean Race thrive on sponsorship and, as every sponsor would readily confirm, sponsors want their brands promoted in as conspicuous a fashion as possible. London based GBH design’s response to leading sportswear manufacturer Puma’s invitation to brand its Volvo Open 70 certainly puts a tick in the “conspicuous” box.

GBH’s design for Puma effectively dresses the yacht in Puma’s sportswear. The huge sail suite is red and dominated by leaping puma motifs and Puma’s logo. The mono-hull’s flanks, its transom and its companion way hatch get the GBH treatment too and wear a livery designed to make the hull look like a seventy foot long training shoe – a Puma training shoe, of course.