On Tuesday 29th September 2020, Attwood’s Sahara Mk2 Automatic Bilge Pump was announced as the winner of the Mechanical Systems Category at this year’s virtual IBEX Innovation Awards.

Ed Sherman, former vice president of the American Boat and Yacht Council, said, "A brilliant application of simple physics to solve a major bilge pump problem.”

Attwood’s Sahara Mk2 is the only automatic bilge pump that eliminates air locks. What makes Sahara Mk2 so innovative is the patented X-Air™ Impeller. Its engineered performance forces air bubbles trapped in the hose and underside of the pump out of the pipework, so that the pump will not run dry and burn out. This breakthrough technology makes Sahara Mk2 the most reliable automatic bilge pump in freshwater AND saltwater applications. Sahara Mk2 will be available January 2021.

Richard Bovill, Engineering Director at Whale, said, “This is a tremendous achievement and is the first time the company has won an IBEX Innovation award in 20 years. The Sahara was designed, developed, and tested by the team right here at Whale. The project team included Simon McFarland, James Wylie, David Kelly, Paul Anderson and Andrew Peoples. The key innovation was James Wylie’s patented shark tooth impeller which is now branded as ‘X-Air’ and eliminates the problem of air locking. A huge congratulations to the Whale team and a big thank you to the project and marketing teams at Attwood for their contributions.”

Read the official IBEX announcement here.