The Vango AirBeam takes off

What happens when you pitch a tent’s marketing team against a hurricane?

Scottish manufacturer Vango’s staff decided to see how one of the company’s revolutionary AirBeam tents held up in the worst winds to hit the country for years.

But they forgot one vital step: pegging down the tent.

A spokesperson for the team said: “In their efforts to pitch the Vango AirBeam Infinity 800, valuable lessons were learnt about how important it is to make sure you pitch a tent properly, especially in extreme conditions as the team had forgotten to peg the tent down before inflating the beams.

A YouTube short shows the large tent going airborne before being brought back under control and erected correctly.

The pole-less range of AirBeam tents rely on inflatable beams where aluminium poles would normally be. The Vango team managed to successfully demonstrate the tent’s strength in yesterday’s 130mph winds, dubbed Hurricane Bawbag by Scots.

The spokesperson added: “The speed and ease of pitching these tents is more evident than ever after Vango’s marketing team managed to pitch the tent – after a little glitch when they had forgotten to peg the tent down – in a force 12 gale.

“Usually Vango would recommend their F10 range of tents for conditions like this. However, Vango had tested the AirBeam to make sure it could withstand extreme conditions and yesterday was proof it can.”