Sailor/student-designer of super-green super-yacht needs $65m

by Blackwattle Studios on 28 Jul 2009 He grew up a sailor, so keen he won the Sir Peter Blake Achievement in Sailing award in 2003.

He wanted to be a designer, so he took a boat design degree at Coventry University and won their Boat Designer of the Year Award for 2009.

Now 23-year-old Alastair Callender has designed a super-green super-yacht, but there's no-one yet put up the $65 million required to build it.

Alastair Callender's eco-friendly Soliloquy yacht seeks to prove that future pleasure vessels can maintain opulence without damaging the earth.

Wind, solar and hybrid marine technologies power the rigid wing 58 metre yacht, resulting in zero emissions capabilitity, lower fuel costs and a quieter journey.

An equivalent-sized superyacht burns anywhere between 250 and 600 litres of marine diesel per hour, depending on speed and fuel efficiency, and emits three times that in CO2 emissions.

600sq/m of solar panels and three giant 'wings' mean 'Soliloquy' can run on wind energy OR solar power. Both the panels and wings on the vessel can fold up or completely stretch out depending on which energy source is in use, changing the yacht's shape.

Originally intended for the environmentally conscious crowd, the Soliloquy is attracting attention worldwide not only from activists but also designers and sailing enthusiasts for its innovative use of a rigid wing rig of three solar sails, which can collect enough energy during 12 hours of sun to allow the Soliloquy to run fuel-free at nearly eight knots.

'I wanted to prove that eco-luxury no longer has to be an oxymoron and doesn't have to make a yacht more expensive,' Alastair Callender told CNN. 'My generation is passionate about the planet and we've got to do all we can so that the earth can sustain us,' he added. 'At the same time, however, I am also passionate about superyachts.'

Callender says he is currently in talks with potential owners to have the vessel built, but there's no-one with their hand up yet.

It was during Callender's final year at Coventry that he designed 'Soliloquy' and he approached a local engineering company, Visioneering, to help construct an intricately detailed scale model - and they agreed.

Callender grew up in Portsmouth, one of the homes of yachting in Britain. He is positive about his ability to find someone to build his yacht.

'There are hundreds of extremely rich families who invest in green technology and until now have not wanted to buy yachts because they produce too many carbon emissions,' he said. 'But with a yacht like Soliloquy, I think they may consider it.'

If anyone reading this article wants the best, greenest super-yacht in the world and has a spare $65 million, contact Alastair on his www.callenderdesigns.co.uk!website. Good luck, Alastair.