Solar Ship Completes "Round the World" Voyage

Ratickle

Founding Member / Super Moderator
I didn't know about this one. But, with the thread going on the electric offshore performance boats, stumbled into it. Kind of Interesting.....



At 2:12 PM local time today, the MS Tûranor entered Monaco’s Hercule Harbor, becoming the first ship to travel around the world using only solar power.

It’s the same harbor where the Tûranor set out from more than 19 months and 37,286 miles ago. Since then, the ship has made port in six continents, fended off pirates and broke four Guinness world records, including longest journey by solar powered boat and first circumnavigation by solar powered boat.

For the team behind the Tûranor, the work has just started. They’ve spent more than a year and a half preaching the solar gospel at stops around the world, and their passion for the power of the sun hasn’t dimmed one bit.

“The MS Tûranor PlanetSolar is much more than a ship,” said Immo Stroeher, the German entrepreneur whose investment made the trip possible. “It has become an ambassador of solar energy. The arrival in Monaco is only the start! We now have to take advantage of the fame of PlanetSolar in order to promote the use of solar energy.”

It’s a pretty remarkable achievement. The 115 foot long, Swiss-flagged catamaran was only a dream and some plans as of three years ago, and although it took quite awhile to complete its voyage, it did so without any major problems. The crew occasionally found themselves awaiting the sun when the ship’s batteries ran out of energy, but no major components ever failed.


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World's First Circumnavigation By Solar Powered Ship A Success | Autopia | Wired.com


Solar Ship's Round-The-World Sail Almost Complete | Autopia | Wired.com
 
The other two records that they broke were:
-Slowest circumnavigation of the earth since 1492
-Ugliest fricking boat
 
just kidding. I've seen uglier.

Here are the specs:

Class and type: Yacht
Displacement: 85 metric tons
Length: 31 m (35 m with flaps)
Beam: 15 m (23m with flaps)
Propulsion: 2 Permanent Magnet Synchronous Electrical Motors - 60kW each (max) @ 1600 rpm
2 Permanent Magnet Synchronous Electrical Motors - 10kW each (max) @ 1000 rpm
Speed: 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph) (max)
7.5 knots (13.9 km/h; 8.6 mph) (cruising)
Crew: 4
 
Technical problems with the propeller system had forced the vessel to stay in an Asian port for two weeks of maintenance
 
Magellon was 1519 to 1522 I read. Three years.....
Yeah. 1492 was a rough guess.

Magellan died trying in April of 1521. He was killed when they landed on what ended up to be a very well-defended phillipines. Magellan was trying to find a secure route to the spice islands, not circumnavigate.

It was Juan Sebastian Elcano who decided to push westward. Only 18 of the 237 men who set out on the expedition made it back to Spain on the Victoria.
 
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