|
Sail-World.com : Solar powered yacht: 146 days and heading for French Polynesia
Solar powered yacht: 146 days and heading for French Polynesia
|
|
|
'Planet Solar - route so far'
.
|
Last September, after many months of planning and construction, a very large solar solar-powered yacht called Planet Solar set out from Monaco, aiming to be the first to circumnavigate the globe in a 'solar' boat, i.e. one powered by a silent, pollution-free electrical engine, driven exclusively by solar energy.
It planned that it would take around 160 days to circle the planet, but 146 days later, after crossing the Atlantic, visiting Miami and transiting the Panama Canal, they have just left Galapagos for the Marquesas in French Polynesia.
Maybe they are just having too good a time!
 | Planet Solar in the Galapagos - .. . |
Here is their description of their visit to Galapagos:
Having travelled through the Panama Canal we took course for the Galápagos Islands. It was a voyage of just under 2,000 kilometres. The highlight was crossing the Equator, which we did on 24 January at 7.00 hours local time (13.00 hours UTC). It was a somehow strange journey as we crossed the intertropical convergence zone, which brought with it lots of humidity and difficult conditions, with not much sun and some unfavourable winds and currents. In spite of these difficulties we reached the island of San Cristobal only a few hours behind our original schedule.
Our stopover on the Galápagos exceeded all expectations. In partnership with the WWF, we had the opportunity of sharing the PlanetSolar adventure with the inhabitants and officials on the archipelago. It was a magic moment when a man with sunburnt skin which told of the long years he has spent on the islands stood gazing in childlike wonder at the sight of our solar boat and our electric bicycle. He embraced me and said that he was reassured to see that now people were prepared to change and to save our planet… Those brief moments were the best possible reward for all the years of effort and difficulties overcome by our entire team.
 | The amazing Planet Solar in Miami - .. . |
From Galapagos on board there will be the original team who left Monaco, Patrick Marchesseau, the captain, Raphaël Domjan, co-founder of the project, Jens Langwasser, the bo’sun and Christian Ochsenbein, the on-board engineer.
Patrick's long experience as a professional sailor includes being Captain of Le Ponant, the yacht that was hijacked and held for a week by Somali pirates in 2008, before being freed by French commandos.
While the PlanetSolar project is an extraordinary technological and human challenge, it is also an expression of the world-view of Raphaël Domjan and of the team he has built around him:
 | RAPHAËL DOMJAN - .. . |
That our planet deserves a better, brighter and less polluted future. Future technologies must be keenly investigated and solutions must be found.
The project will help to motivate engineers and scientists to develop innovative technologies, inspire people around the world, and show that the impossible can become possible.
The vessel itself, PlanetSolar, is a multlihull vessel topped by a large array of photovoltaic solar panels, constructed by Knierim Yacht Club, in Kiel, Germany.
Additional removable parts allow it to expose a total of 537 m2 of photovoltaic surface (solar panels) to the sun.
At the end of their Pacific run their next major port of call is planned to be Brisbane in Australia.
by Nancy Knudsen
Click on the FB Like link to post this story to your FB wall
http://www.sail-world.com/index.cfm?nid=80494
10:23 PM Sun 20 Feb 2011 GMT
Click here for printer friendly version
Click here to send us feedback or comments about this story.
|
|
|
Our Advertisers are committed to our sport, please support them!
This site and its contents are © Copyright TetraMedia Pty. Ltd and/or the original author, photographer etc. All Rights Reserved.
Photographs are copyright by law. If you wish to use or buy a photograph you must contact the photographer directly (there is a hyperlink in most cases to their website, or do a Google search.) with your request.
Please do not contact
Sail-World.com
as we cannot give permission for use of other photographer’s images.
Only if the photographer named on the image is Sail-world.com, Powerboat-world.com, Marinebusiness-world.com or NZBoating-World.com.
Contact us
.
Ph: +61 2 8006 1873
or complete our
feedback form
Contact us
.
View our Privacy Policy.
[ Go Home]
[ Banner Advertising Specification]
[Bot Archive ]
Customised news feeds -Marine Industry companies, Clubs and Associations have their own customised version of our news feed on their website.
Look_here_to_see_examples
|
CLD
| | |
_USA_05-13[2][4].gif)
_USA_05-13[3].gif)
