by nick
5. October 2010 19:47
World Marine Guide have been following this story closely and TÛRANOR Planet Solar is heading for the Straits of Gibraltar as she completes the first week of an attempt to become the first solar powered boat to circumnavigate the world. Raphaël Domjan, the project's founder and initiator, is one of six men aboard the boat and says that their goal is to navigate around the world at an average speed of 7.5 knots.
Follow TÛRANOR Planet Solar progress around the world.
- Length: 31 m
- Width: 15 m
- Length with flaps: 35 m
- Width with flaps: 23 m
- Height: 6.1 m
- Weight: 95 t
- Surface of solar modules: 537 m2
- PV panel efficiency: 18.8 %
- PV installed power: 93.5 kW (127.0 HP)
- Average engine consumption: 20 kW (26.8 HP)
- Average speed: 7.5 kt (14 km/h)
- Maximum speed: 14 kt (25 km/h)
- Crew: 6 people
- People that can go onboard: 40
- Autonomy: Never-ending solar navigation
In 2011, the first round-the-world trip powered by solar energy will be realized, with stopovers along the equator, where the maximum amount of sunlight is available. The over 50,000-km voyage will last 160 days, for an average speed of 7.5 knots. PlanetSolar's six-men crew will cross the Atlantic Ocean, the Panama Canal, the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean and finally the Suez Canal, to return to the Mediterranean. After a roadshow with the village that will cross Switzerland in 2009, the boat will stop in cities like New-York, San Francisco, Singapour and Abu-Dhabi.
The stopovers (Miami, Cancun, San Francisco, Sydney, Singapour, Abu Dhabi) will be organised in large port cities many with marinas; they will give the project a high profile, and will be used as a promotional platform for renewable energies, especially solar.
Source Planet Solar and Motor Boat News
http://www.worldmarineguide.com
Subscribe