Rooster's lucky break. In 1998 I gave Robert Scheidt (current world number one in the then laser class) a Polilite® 7mm mainsheet to test. He loved it but requested a lighter weight version for the expected light winds that Sydney would give.  We then developed the 6mm version for him and Ben Ainslie. Polilite® went onto win all three medals at the 2000 Olympics.  6mm, 6mm, 7mm took the three spots on the podium then and has made it there many times since 2000. -Steve Cockerill (Rooster Founder & Chairman)

The History of Polilite®

They say that necessity is the mother of invention.  In my case, I had been so upset by the way the mainsheets behaved on my Laser during the 1992-1996 Olympic cycle that I was keen to finally solve it.  The concept was to produce a rope that was closer to 7mm than 6mm to help reduce the tangles and make it a little easier on the hands. I also wanted it to be lighter than a normal 6mm polyester rope and primarily, I wanted it to run out easily. 

I figured that it was the properties of the inner core that made the rope more likely to tangle. His idea to solve the problem was considered by the rope manufacturer to be more revolutionary than evolutionary. I had the idea to put a low tech high stretch rope as the inner core of the rope. This would make the core lighter and leave the outer core to be the load bearer. The outer core would therefore also pinch the inner core under load - which would help maintain stability. I named it it Polilite® as it's a light weight polyester sheet.