The company
Who we are, where the project comes from, and what happens to our load pins if the company stops.
FoundingWho is behind it
Fanao Solutions was founded in 2024 by Victor Vaissié, an engineer graduated from ENSTA Paris (the former École du génie maritime), where he also discovered sailing alongside a very multidisciplinary course.
This versatility naturally finds its application in the measurement trades. Instrumenting a part, conditioning the signal, calibrating it to obtain an accurate value, then putting that value to use indeed involves as much electronics and software as mechanics, and forms the foundation of all our work.
The company first worked as a design consultancy, for third parties, on various measurement problems, before redirecting itself towards the design and production of the load pin under its own name. This early period incidentally explains the way we work: we start from an existing part and a precise need, as this is how we are most effective.
OriginWhy these load pins exist
The project was born from a question asked by a rigging manufacturer, who wanted to know the tension in the rigging it fitted. Sensors certainly already existed, but they remained confined to racing and very large yachts, at prices bearing no relation to those of an average cruising boat.
Furthermore, none of these sensors was designed to fit into an existing range: the supplier's equipment had to be adopted, so that a manufacturer wishing to offer measurement in its own references had no solution.
That question already summed up the essence of our current activity, namely a rigging professional, working in cruising, who wants to fit measurement into their own equipment. As it went well beyond the case of this one manufacturer, it also called for a product rather than a one-off service.
What happens if we stop
Fanao Solutions is a young and small company, in a sector where long-established players are numerous. It is therefore legitimate, when committing for the long term, to wonder whether we will still be here tomorrow.
As no one can seriously promise their own longevity, our answer instead rests on the very design of the load pin:
- Local measurement
- The load pin measures locally and does not communicate with any server.
- No subscription
- It requires no account, no software and no recurring payment, and works from the moment it is delivered.
- Calibration
- This is specific to the load pin and is not kept by us.
- Reversibility
- As the load pin involves no other change to the rigging, it can at any time be replaced by a standard axle or by another solution.
As a result, if Fanao Solutions were to stop operating, the load pins already installed would continue to measure exactly as before, with the same values and with no action required on your part.
This design choice is deliberate: a rigging component is indeed replaced on the scale of a decade, and we believe a boat owner should not have to depend on their supplier to read a part they have bought.
Working with us
We design and manufacture our load pins for rigging professionals, on cruising sailing yachts and catamarans, adapting them to the references you already fit rather than asking you to conform to a catalogue.