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Solar-powered catamaran goes around the world in 584 days
- rollypolly 15y agoWhy is this boat considered a catamaran and not a trimaran?
- borism 15y agobecause centre hull isn't sitting in water, only glides over it. but you're right, it isn't a true catamaran either. can't remember what is professional jargon for such designs right now.
- notaddicted 15y agoTwice as fast as Magellan!
- planetguy 15y agoIn fairness, Magellan didn't have the Panama or Suez canals, made rather a lot of pitstops along the way, and died in the Philippines.
- zbowling 15y agoJust think... soon they will make boats out of other sustainable power sources. Maybe like wind or something else crazy like that.
- reitzensteinm 15y agoI laughed, but actually, wind is being rediscovered for larger vessels: http://www.plentymag.com/blogs/edge/2008/03/smoother_sailing_on_kiteanddie.php http://www.plentymag.com/blogs/edge/2008/03/smoother_sailing... The kite claims a 10-35% reduction in diesel consumption, which is pretty good for a permanent and passive contribution. And you still have the reliability and speed of traditional diesel propulsion.
- Devilboy 15y agoCheck out this wave powered drone: http://www.liquidr.com/ http://www.liquidr.com/ In action: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eATawqVOXWI http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eATawqVOXWI
- nextparadigms 15y agoOr make solar-based weapons against pirates, with a big lens.
- daniel-cussen 15y agoYou know, I recently helped a friend find a large, but light and flexible, plastic fresnel lens. You can make wood char and smoke instantly and light on fire within seconds, it's really cool.
- jakeonthemove 15y agoSailing is still the best way to travel the oceans without using tons of fuel... however, if it was possible to retrofit existing diesel-powered ships with solar panels, that would be quite nice...
- wazoox 15y agoIn 2012, a sail boat went around the world in 45 days. Obviously sail will remain more efficient for a while. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jules_Verne_Trophy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jules_Verne_Trophy
- dlokshin 15y agoWas a little baffled by this part, "It would be an adventure and a statement. If he could do it, he would prove to the world that there are other alternatives to powering sea travel besides fossil fuels and wind. It would also demonstrate just what solar power is capable of." It didn't really prove anything ..
- planetguy 15y agobesides fossil fuels and wind And nuclear reactors and human rowers. Oh, and wood. It would also demonstrate just what solar power is capable of Yep, pushing a huge expensive yacht around the world at an insanely slow speed. Clap clap.
- yummybear 15y agoAlmost 2 mph. Whooosh!
- derda 15y agoThey went a sunny-route through the panama-channel and not the route trough Kap Horn and the Kap of good hope, which is normally taken by round the world sailors. These routes have a high chance of storms, which come with clouds. 3 days of clouds would have rendered the boat unmanoeuvrable. Nice experiment but solar powered boats are absolutely useless on high seas and better, cheaper and a lot more ecological (a lot of energy goes in the production of solar panels and batteries) alternatives (sailboats) have been around for ages.
- jebblue 15y agoThis is a cool story, I wonder how long a non-stop trip would take though.