Artists including EINE, INSA, MEAR ONE, Jaime Gili and Eley Kishimoto had their art immortalised on Olympic Star class sails at The May Fair Hotel last night in aid of the Royal Yacht Association’s Sailability Trust and Sail for Gold scheme, and the Royal National Lifeboat Institution.

Over 200 people from the world of art, property, sport and finance were in attendance. Olympians included Andrew (Bart) Simpson MBE, who won Silver at the London Olympics 2012; Beijing Gold medallist Pippa Wilson MBE; and young paraplegic sailor Alex Hovden.

Ben Flynn (also known as EINE), had his ‘See No Evil’ emblazoned on the Team GB sail. Speaking to audience he said: “This is not my world, I never thought I’d have one of my works on a sail. But it’s an honour to have been involved”.

Event organiser Michael Ross, of CNM Estates, said: “This is the start of a grand adventure as the Fine Art Sails now travel to the America’s Cup and will sailed under the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco”.

Team GB yachtsman Iain Percy says: “This is a fantastic project and great publicity for our sport, I can’t wait to sail one of the Art Sails”.

The London Olympics was the last time that the Star Class sail would be used, increasing the value of this collaboration.

The sails with fine art were used by Olympics Silver Medal winners Iain Percy and Andrew (Bart) Simpson as part of their training for the Games in Weymouth.

They carry the identification number “8371”, which is the number used by the sailors at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and their world title-winning races at the championships in Rio.

In addition, the gold star on the sail indicates that it is from a world championship winning team.

For more information, see www.fineartsails.com