A DARWEN firm which sells flexible, waterproof keyboards has been chosen to supply sailors in one of the world's best known yacht races.

Dot.Com Keyboards, a firm run by local businessman Nick Hayes, sells his hi-tech products to customers including the military, hospitals and courts.

The keyboards can be rolled up, and used in silence or in extreme conditions, which make them ideal for unusual uses.

And the online firm, which just sells the products via the internet, was picked by the Spanish Americas Cup yacht team which will use the devices in this year's event this summer.

Mr Hayes, who used to run an internet cafe in Clitheroe, sells keyboards in several different languages including Arabic, Russian, Chinese and Hebrew.

He also runs Ribble Valley Limos, and started his one-man keyboard business when a customer spilled a hot drink and he began to look for waterproof keyboards. Then he found some in Taiwan, and a friend visiting the country brought him a few examples of the devices.

He began to sell them and the business took off.

Mr Hayes said the yachting deal would be a prestigious name to add to his list of clients.

He said: "We have been selling keyboards since about 2000.

"It's all online and we don't do anything face to face. We've got an awful lot of prestigious firms that deal with us.

"I sell the keyboards worldwide."

The businessman, who is in his fifties and lives in Darwen, said: "I supply a lot of hospitals, particularly with MRSA concerns, as the keyboards are washable.

"The keyboards, and now the waterproof mice', I am hoping will do very well.

"I am number one when you search on Google and have been for a long time when you type in waterproof keyboards'."