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Dutch Teenager Breaks World Single Handed Sailing Record

Alison Williams | Maritime News and Events, Travel and Cruising | January 24, 2012

Dutch teen Laura Dekker has just become the youngest sailor ever to undertake and complete a single handed circumnavigation of the globe.

The sixteen year old finished her single handed round-the-globe voyage when she finally sailed into the harbour of St Maarten in the Caribbean, which is jointly administered by the French and Dutch governments.

It looked at first that she would not be allowed to start the intrepid voyage at such an early age when the Dutch social affairs department considered that she was far too young to take on the challenge. The court case that involved her and her family, who were behind the project, reached world attention two years ago.

Dekker sailed from the island less than a year ago, beating the last record by 8 months.

Laura Decker © Savyasachi Creative Commons Wikipedia

As she reaches the age of 17 on the 20th September, she had to finish her voyage before the 16th September in order to claim the record for the youngest sailor to complete a world trip without any assistance.

Miss Dekker’s ketch, named Guppy, arrived in St Maarten almost a year after her voyage started.

“I can’t really absorb what I have just done,” she said to journalists once she had her feet firmly planted on dry land.

“The sailing was at all times really good and I often viewed dolphins along the way” she said when interviewed at the dockside after arrival.

She said that she would be spending the coming days on the island cleaning up the 12 metre boat before she returns to school.

Her parents, of course, were there amidst a crowd of 450 onlookers who were there to welcome the teenager. Scores of people cheered as Dekker waved her arms to them, cried and then went across the dock along with her mum, dad, sister and grandparents, who had met her out at sea earlier in the day.

Dekker finally made her arrival in St. Maarten after fighting high seas and strong winds on the last, 40-day section from Cape Town in South Africa.

The starting point of her trip became St Maarten instead of the original plan of Gibraltar.

The previous holder of the record was Australian teenager Jessica Watson, who gained this achievement in May 2010, just 3 days before she reached her 17th birthday.

But the Dutch girl’s achievement and challenge was not quite the same as Jessica’s, who went around the world non-stop while Laura sailed from one port to another and was not at sea for longer than 3 weeks.

Dekker was born in the port of Whangarei in New Zealand to sea going parents while they were completing a six year circumnavigation of their own, and said she did her first solo sail at the age of 6. By the age of 10 years old she said, she started to dream about sailing around the world. She celebrated her sixteenth birthday while at sea, consuming doughnuts for breakfast after having spent a bit of time in port with her father and some friends the previous night in Darwin on the north coast of Australia.

The teen sailed more than 26,000 miles on a journey that included places that sound like a scan through an online travel brochure: the Canary Islands, the Galapagos, Panama, Fiji, Tonga, Bora Bora, Australia, South Africa and St. Maarten.

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SV Egret, Rudderless, arrives safely in St Lucia

Alison Williams | Maritime News and Events | January 13, 2012

There are many ordinary people who go to sea and do brave and amazing things, which the world never gets to hear about. This is a story of two such quiet heroes that ended safely and happily only two weeks ago.

The couple, on an adventure of a lifetime, had set off on what is often only a routine 2000 mile crossing of the Atlantic from the Cape Verde islands to the Caribbean but soon they became confronted with a situation that all sailors hope would never happen to them. Their rudder snapped clean off the stern of their 12 metre yacht, slap bang in the middle of the ocean.

If you have ever seriously imagined how hard it would be to steer a car without a steering wheel then perhaps you could try to imagine steering a rudderless yacht on an ocean, with thirty knot winds and four metre waves, a thousand miles from the nearest “garage”. Amanda and Patrick on the “Egret” certainly did not have any instructions hidden away in their emergency grab bag, but they were quietly determined not to abandon their yacht.

Sunset in Marigot Bay, St Lucia © Fanny Reno Fotolia.com

The morning after the disaster, as their yacht rolled and yawed helplessly in the Atlantic swells, kindly voices on the morning’s regular yacht to yacht high frequency radio sked soon had them sorted out. An old sea dog-cum-author called Fatty Goedlander, who had been sailing the seas for almost 60 years, was quick to relay down the radio detailed instructions on how to make and deploy an emergency rudder that would, at least, get them underway and moving, albeit slowly, in the right direction.

Amanda and Patrick quickly got to work using a long rope, their second anchor and some additional long mooring lines. The anchor was thrown off the stern attached to some chain and a thick long rope which they attached to a stern mooring cleat. Two more lines had been attached to the anchor as well which were led down each side of the deck and through some blocks and back to the steering wheel area and these would then be used as steering lines.

Of course, now the sails had to be set in such a way that they would be filled by the wind that was coming from behind. This, with some trial and error, they managed successfully.

This amazing feat was accomplished, it seems, with a minimum of fuss. After all, no one wants to finish their voyage of a lifetime, let alone their adopted, floating home at the mercy of the great Atlantic.

Just to brighten things up, they certainly weren’t alone on the high seas as there were some nearby yachts – meaning 50 odd miles away – that immediately diverted to give moral support and sail along with them. One tailed them in rough conditions for almost a week before bravely launching their yacht’s tender and rowing alongside the stricken “Egret” to deliver 50 litres of diesel in conditions that a surfer might only appreciate. Not only that but some freshly baked bread and other culinary goodies were tossed in to their cockpit, but the Good Samaritan apparently decided against hopping aboard for a friendly swig of whisky.

With more than a thousand miles to go to St Lucia and an electronic auto pilot somehow managing to steer the jury steering rig, they happily arrived on the shores of St Lucia to welcome in the New Year.

There is no moral to this report or even lessons to be learned, it was just one of those unavoidable incidents that ended happily aided by initiative, skill and determination.

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Sea Shepherd’s New Anti-Whaling Vessel Damaged in the Southern Ocean

Alison Williams | Maritime News and Events | January 6, 2012

The Southern Hemisphere summer heralds the annual confrontations in the Antarctic of the Japanese whaling fleet and the anti whaling organisation Sea Shepherd, but last week disaster struck in bad weather.

The recently launched state-of-the-art vessel the “Brigitte Bardot” was damaged by a rogue wave while pursuing a Japanese whaling vessel in 6 metre seas 1500 miles from Fremantle in Western Australia.

Fortunately, the lead vessel “Steve Irwin” only took eighteen hours to reach the crippled vessel. Despite the damage both boats managed to maintain a speed of more than 7 knots on their way to Fremantle.

The Sea Shepherd fleet depends on volunteers and the 10 member crew hail from America, Britain, Canada, Australia, South Africa and Belgium. They are well aware of the conditions that could be encountered in the Southern Ocean. It is not only the Japanese whaling fleet but the weather conditions that create havoc for ships plying these waters.

Two Humpback whales and a shark swim among ancient city ruins © Catmando - Fotolia.com

It took about five days to escort the distressed ship back to Fremantle and seven of the crew were evacuated onto the “Steve Irwin” for the journey.

Fortunately, the “Brigitte Bardot” was constructed so that it is virtually unsinkable but any damage could prevent successful motoring.

This is the eighth mission that Sea Shepherd has undertaken in its quest to stop the whaling industry forever.

This incident did not stall Sea Shepherd’s activities, as while the ships were making their way to Fremantle, a third vessel the “Bob Barker” was tailing the Japanese whaling ship called the “Nisshin Maru”.

In February 2011, Japan shortened its whale pursuit one month early after only securing a third of its normal catch. They put the blame on Sea Shepherd for their action.

Meanwhile, less than a month ago Japanese whaling overseers were in the process of attempting to sue the environmental group for obstructing the yearly whale hunt.

The process of commercial whaling was halted under a 1986 international agreement, unless done for research purposes only. Some nations, and a number of environmental groups, claim that Japanese “scientific whaling” is simply concealed commercial whaling and not research. There is no secret that whale meat can be sourced in restaurants throughout Japan.

The Sea Shepherd environmental organisation is not short of money for its activities as might be guessed from the names of its vessels. TV and film stars from “Star Trek” and The “James Bond” series are regular sponsors amongst others from the film industry.

Furthermore, the Southern Ocean is not the only place in the world where whale hunting still exists. The village of Lamahera on Lembata island in the Indonesian archipelago conducts its annual whale hunt off its own doorstep but only small traditional sailing boats and hand crafted tools are used and the carcass has to be hacked to pieces in the water as it is too big to fit in the tiny boats. This is an age old activity but it is slowly coming into the limelight as concerned organisations have been alerted to its continued existence.

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Traditional Boats Still Sail Bali’s Seas

Alison Williams | Travel and Cruising | January 3, 2012

We left the Lombok anchorage in the dead of night – to sail to Bali we had to take advantage of the strong north west going current that flowed up through the Lombok Strait that was timed by the passage of the moon. Calculations showed us that it would flow in the right direction only in the early morning. This was a double advantage as we could also use the southerly winds that only blow at night and in the early morning. By 5 a.m. we had a favourable, brisk twenty knots from the south and we were flying across the strait.

As dawn slowly put out golden tentacles of light towards the western sky a dramatic spectacle opened up. Hundreds of gaily painted small sailing boats – looking like gaudy spiders – were fanning out in all directions from the Bali shore. Mount Agung, the mountain of God, reared up behind this panorama, providing the perfect backdrop.

These little outrigger and lateen rigged boats were unique to the shores of Bali and Lombok and are obviously still in wide use today and are called jukung. They are the Balinese answer to the “Hobie” but are not just used for leisure.
The Balinese use the night wind to take them far offshore to the fishing grounds and then return as the wind slowly reverses to an onshore sea breeze. The fisherman / sailor who steers the jukung out to sea and back doesn’t waste time and usually tows a trolling line and lure in both directions, the speed of the boat normally giving a fair chance of catching a passing mackerel or tuna.

Drakkar bali © velvetocean Fotolia.com

These little fishing boats have no need for an outboard, although larger craft built with the same basic design do carry engines elsewhere in Indonesia. They can only carry one or two people at the most and with a maximum length of about five meters can easily be dragged up on any of Bali’s volcanic, black sand beaches.

The Balinese do everything in life according to age old ritual and the way they build and use their jukung is no different. The wood that is favoured is the belalu or camplung tree and it can only be cut down on a special date that fits in with religious ritual according to the Balinese calendar. Another special date is reserved for the commencement of boat construction. The size of the boat that is built depends on the dimensions of the owner, so shorter men build smaller boats, although the actual work is often a communal effort.

The two outriggers or floats are attached in a way that symbolises the degree of symmetry which the boat builders feel is suitable, while the launching of the finished and painted boat is accompanied by offerings of flowers, fruit and rice to appease the gods. The bow is decorated with a fierce looking image of the mythical gajah minah or elephant fish, whose bulging eyes ensures good navigation in the dark and safe passage through rough seas.

These days, some Balinese fishermen are succumbing to the pressures and lure of the tourist rupiah and converting their boats into day pleasure boats for tourists off the beach and even building a glass bottom into some to help their customers view Bali’s offshore coral reefs.

As we closed the North Eastern shores of Bali’s vivid green and fertile land, we passed dozens of boats as they weaved expertly in and out around our trajectory. With one hand on the tiller and another holding a line, they grinned and waved – no doubt we both eyed each other up with curiosity and respect

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Filipino Mariners Caught Up in Piracy

Alison Williams | Maritime News and Events | December 26, 2011

Recent news reports have revealed that there are many Filipinos caught up in ship piracy in the Indian Ocean. A Captain of a ship registered in Liberia and crewed entirely by Filipinos was kept in captivity by Somali pirates for four months this year while his wife and newly born child waited in earnest back in the Philippines.

The ship had been hijacked by Somali pirates as it entered the Gulf of Aden, even though the ship is substantial in size there was no way it could overpower the Somali speedboat which was heavily armed.

This particular captain and his crew are not the only Filipinos affected by piracy. As they commonly crew ships for big companies, they inevitably form parts of the crew.

Statistics reveal that since 2006, almost 750 Filipinos, working on more than 60 freighters, have been captured in this way.

Tug boat taking out the ship from the harbor © Grecaud Paul Fotolia.com

Filipinos are not being particularly singled out by the pirates; it is just that so many people from the Philippines work in the maritime industry.

Capt Caniete’s torment started on a tranquil clear day in the middle of December. He first spotted the pirate boat when it was a long way off from his own ship, and stared with fear as it gathered speed and became close.

“I was extremely nervous and my total body was trembling,” he recollects. “They were continually shooting at the ship. They got on the radio and said Captain, you have not stopped so you will be killed.”

After more than five hours of a cat and mouse pursuit, the pirates then hauled themselves up onto the ship, and holding up their AK-47’s they soon overcame the captain and crew, making them take the ship to the coast of Somalia.

The Filipinos on the vessel were held on board, with hardly any food, while dialogue was underway.

Capt Caniete was forced to make a phone call to his company to inform them that he would be shot if a ransom was not paid.

He was severely beaten by the pirates as they were suspicious that a coffee pot he had brought along with him onto the ship was really a satellite telephone. But it was a present from his wife that he cherished.

In the end and after four months, the pirates departed without a word. And Capt Caniete assumed a solution had been found enabling their release.

With this increase in involvement of Filipinos as pirate fodder, The Philippines does not have the money for extra security for their crews but they are conducting anti piracy exercises. Every Filipino seafarer goes through compulsory anti-piracy lessons before they go out to sea.

Several hundred Filipinos have been held by Somali pirates in recent years and in spite of the increasing danger of piracy, there never seems to be any lack in the number of Filipinos wishing to enlist in a crewing job in the maritime trade.

The wages paid out by the shipping corporations offer a favourable quality of living, and offer one of a small number of paths out of poverty for numerous Filipino families. In the last year, Filipino seagoing workers were able to send nearly two and a half billion pounds back to their homes which make up a crucial component of the country’s economy.

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Narrow Gap Separates Yachts in the World’s Toughest Ocean Race

Alison Williams | Maritime News and Events | December 13, 2011

The six competitors in the Volvo Ocean Race 2011 / 2012 are only eighteen nautical miles apart just off the South African coast tacking in light head winds on the second leg of what is arguably the world’s toughest and longest ocean sailing race. Camper / Emirates Team New Zealand is in the lead, although Team Telefonica holds a slender, overall, leading margin on points.

This year’s race started in the Spanish Mediterranean port city of Alicante and ends in Galway, Ireland, next year. The route this year has taken them via Cape Town and will lead to Abu Dhabi, Sanya in China, Auckland, New Zealand, Itajai on the Brazilian coast, then back across the Atlantic to France and finally Ireland.

The second leg is just over ten thousand kilometers long and will, for the first time put the Volvo fleet in potential pirate waters. Special measures are being taken to protect the six boats from pirate attack as they cross the Arabian Sea after rounding Madagascar and head for Abu Dhabi in the Arabian Gulf.

Sailing Regatta © Rey Kamensky - Fotolia.com

The Volvo Ocean race has a long history. It all started with a whimsical race called the Golden Globe, created by Britain’s Sunday Times which was a challenge for the fastest single handed non stop round the world race under sail alone at a time when hardly anybody was sailing across the world’s oceans slowly, let alone racing. This was the race that was won by Robin Knox-Johnston in a 10 metre leaky wooden ketch built in India and the same race that Bernard Moitessier, in the lead across the Pacific, famously gave up and sailed to Tahiti instead. The interest and fascination that this pioneering race garnered gave rise to the first of the Whitbread races in 1973, so called because of its sponsorship by Whitbread breweries. In those early races, yachts were more modified cruising boats than racing boats with keen amateur sailor / adventurers paying for the privilege of racing around the world. Accommodation was in comparatively comfortable cabins, food and alcohol was not in short supply and only the skipper got paid while navigation was by dead reckoning, compass and sextant.

The races were designed to follow the old square rigger ship routes around the capes leaving from Europe, round South Africa’s notorious Cape of Storms and then through the Southern Ocean to Cape Horn and back to Europe via the Atlantic.

This, the 11th Volvo Ocean race is a direct descendent of the Whitbread series. The boats themselves are a far cry from those of the Whitbread era, however – they are all of the same design – Volvo Open 70’s with 11 crew apiece from 15 diverse nations. The boats are sleeker, faster and are crewed by professional athletes, many of them Olympic gold medalists and veterans from the America’s Cup. Accommodation on board is sparser and more spartan with an emphasis on the desire to win.

One of the boats in this race, Team Sanya, is the first time a Chinese yacht has been entered and is named after the Chinese port city that is one of the staging posts of the race while Abu Dhabi Racing is the first entry from the United Arab Emirates.

The race has changed over the years from one that has favoured yachts that can move fast down wind to one that requires much more tactical skills. The race now crosses the equator not less than four times requiring the crews and their skippers to sail in all types of conditions from the steady trade winds of the North and South Atlantic to the fluky equatorial doldrums and the tempestuous and stormy waters of the Southern Ocean.

As the yachts make their way up into the Southern Indian Ocean and the dangers of the southern hemisphere’s cyclone season, they will be watched by TV satellite hook up by an estimated 60 million spectators.

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Atlantic Rally for Cruisers 2011 Experience near Perfect Weather

Alison Williams | Maritime News and Events | December 8, 2011

The traditional Atlantic sailing rally (the ARC) from Las Palmas in the Canary Islands to Rodney Bay on the Caribbean Island of St Lucia, some 2800 nautical miles, has experienced near perfect sailing conditions as the first yachts arrive in Rodney Bay. Last year was dogged with unfavourable and light winds but this year the classic north east trades pushed the yachts in record times towards the finish line. December 2nd saw the arrival of the first yacht in the racing division. The twelve metre “Vaquita” ploughed its way across the Atlantic arriving in less than twelve days. The owner had engaged an experienced mixed gender crew to make the passage and it was completed five days earlier than in 2010.

ARC departure from Las Palmas, Canary Islands. November 2005

The crew reported that Vaquita attained speeds of 23 knots at times as she surfed down the backs of waves and she regularly marched along at speeds between 18 and 20 knots. The crew admitted that the fast speeds made living conditions down below somewhat uncomfortable as the sound of the water rushing by was at times phenomenal.

The ARC rally is not just the domain for racers and winners but the cruising division also includes at least twenty or more children under the age of sixteen who are not skippering, crewing or sailing solo but are part of family groups that make this transatlantic voyage every year, many of whom go on to complete a circumnavigation.

This years rally has attracted twenty one children from nine different nationalities. The ARC rally committee did not leave these children at limbo while in Las Palmas, but organized outings and social activities so that they could get to know each other. It seems they were all pretty smart at communicating with each other despite the language barriers.

The oldest sailor in the rally is 78 years old and is the owner of the Peruvian registered yacht “Nandina”. He is not only the oldest sailor but it is the first time there has been an entry from Peru. The 78 year old was so keen on taking part in the rally that he had Nandina shipped over the Atlantic especially for the event.

Meanwhile as at the time of writing this article the ARC rally events in St Lucia officially get under way commencing with a welcome beach cocktail party. Yachts are still arriving one by one into St. Lucia, even though the wind has died in the Caribbean for a while. Forty five yachts have officially crossed the finish line, with a further eight more expected to arrive today, and twenty one more have radioed to say they will arrive tomorrow. This is quite a contrast to last year’s ARC rally which was one of the slowest on record and only two boats made landfall in St. Lucia within sixteen days. The first was the motor yacht “Wind Horse”, which simply motored across the Atlantic in just over ten days. “Berenice”, a large Swan design, was the only sailing yacht last year to complete the passage in less than sixteen days.

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Sailboats just Keep Getting Faster

Alison Williams | Tall Ships | October 10, 2011

Sailboats will never reach the speed of motor boats but that doesn’t seem to stop them trying. Of course to discuss the speed of sail boats one has to qualify what one means when the word speed is used. Is it the speed over a short distance or across oceans? Does it mean how fast in enclosed waters or on the sea, single handed or with more than one person. Monohulls or multi hulls, and what about kite boards and windsurfers – do they count?

Until the age of power took over, the fastest commercial sailboats were the famous clippers who used to ply the trade routes between North America and Europe and to the East Indies and the Far East around the Cape of Good Hope and the longer rout out toAustraliaand the Pacific. The age of the clipper has long gone and there are very few boats that use sail primarily for commerce these days and they aren’t necessarily fast – the accent is on economics rather than time.

In the leisure world, the situation is different. Freed from the necessity of reaching time deadlines to carry cargo, the accent has shifted to beating other craft of similar type. Here the records continue to tumble.

Technically speaking, the fastest craft to use some sort of wind powered device is a kite board with the record being 50.57 knots. The second fastest craft would be very close – Antoine Albeau has the record made in 2009 on a windsurfer, with a speed of 49.09 knots, at Les Saintes inFrance.

If windsurfers and kiteboards don’t really measure up as sailboats then the next fastest object in the water over short distances must be the massive trimaran hydrofoil L’Hydroptere which recorded speeds up to 47 knots and an average over a nautical mile of 41 knots inQuiberonBayon the French coast recently. It is not yet certain whether the design is suitable for use out os very sheltered waters o this sped may not truly be classed as a marine sailboat record. Macquarie Invention clocked up an even faster speed of just over 50 knots but this was for less than half a nautical mile. Without doubt multihulled sailboats are capable of doubling the average speed of any mono hull.

Now for the mono hulls. A whole succession of records have been shattered over the last ten years and it is likely that the fastest time and the fastest 24 hours will continue to change as technological improvements are made. The fastest at the moment is ABN AMRO Two with a 24 hour record breaking distance of 569.2 nautical miles together with an average speed of 23.4 knots made on passage in the Southern Ocean.

For the multi hulls, Groupamma 3 probably has the record with a 24 hour distance of 794 nautical miles and an average speed of 33.08 knots. The time taken to cross theAtlanticwas four days three hours and nearly fifty eight minutes giving an average speed of 29.25 knots. Proving that round the world speed records are harder to crack, Groupamma 3 broke up when trying to do just that.

The fastest round the world mono hull is currently PRB – an open 60. Vincent Roux who skippered the PRB took 87 days 10 hours and 47 minutes for the circumnavigation.

The fastest single handed sailboat to circumnavigate is the trimaran IDEC with Francis Joyon as the skipper. He took 57 days to get around the planet at an average speed of nearly 16 knots.

A little faster still but with a crewed boat was Orange II, which managed the circumnavigation with an average speed of 17.89 knots and a total time of 50 days

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Satellite Communication saves French Yachtsmen in Mid Atlantic

Alison Williams | Maritime News and Events | October 6, 2011

Being stranded out in the mid Atlantic is not everyone’s cup of tea but in more than 45 knots of wind and with seas reaching eight metres the aluminum ketch Roule la Billie was savagely knocked down by these enormous seas and as a result lost its mast and rigging. This occurred more than fourteen hundred miles out in the Atlantic in September. The group of four was on their way home to Europe, in the thirty six foot ketch, from the Caribbean when this misfortune occurred.

In the past if such an incident had taken place so far from land, the occupants of any stricken vessel could only hope that if they jumped into a life raft or even a dinghy with a bunch of flares they might have had the faintest possibility of being spotted and rescued. But more likely they would have been recorded as another statistic of sailors lost at sea.

In this era of satellite communication and the waterproof gadgets that go with it, there is a great chance that sailors being capsized far away from land will be saved even though it might be a costly exercise requiring a quick response from the closest country.

In this case, the first indication of the yacht’s predicament was a phone call that the captain made to his father using his satellite phone. This message was then relayed to the US coastguard and the Rescue Coordination Centre in Canada. The tricky situation now is that the stricken yacht will not stay in the same place but will drift with wind action and currents. This is when the 406 MHz Emergency Position Indicator Radio Beacon (EPIRB), once deployed and activated, comes in handy as it relays a distress message via satellite to the closest emergency command centre. In the case of Roule La Billie they did just that and 10 minutes after the command centre in Boston had received the message from the skipper’s dad, they received the EPIRB signal. This confirmed the location with the exact position of the stricken yacht. This signal from the EPIRB will continue relaying the position of the yacht up to forty eight hours after activation, giving hope that rescue authorities will be able to physically locate and monitor the yacht while a rescue vessel is dispatched to the position.

Once the actual location had been established The U.S. Coast Guard along with the Canadian Joint Rescue Coordination Centre dispatched, a Canadian Hercules and two merchant ships, and they managed to co operate to bring about the successful retrieval of the French sailors.

The commercial ships were members of Automated Mutual-Assistance Vessel Rescue System (AMVER) so they were both prepared and well trained in diverting from their original course to help out in maritime incidents such as this one. AMVER is a vital link in aiding coastguards from around the world as it means the ship closest to the incident simply diverts preventing the need to deploy a specialist emergency vessel. In this situation while awaiting the ships the crew of the stricken yacht were dropped a life raft and other supplies from the Hercules, to ensure their survival. while the ships were making their way in unfavourable sea conditions to take the sailors on board.

Mission accomplished with the minimum of fuss with the great assistance of satellite communication. Not all yachts carry satellite phones due to the costly airtime rates but most trans ocean yachts carry the 406mhz EPIRB and now the SPOT commercial locator is being marketed which, as a convenient palm sized device, when activated sends a signal to a commercial station who then interpret the message and inform the local search and rescue authority. This device transmits the exact position of the boat in distress and even has the ability to send text messages as well.

All these pieces of technology mean that large tracts of ocean do, no longer, need to be flown over by fleets of planes with the faint hope of finding the speck of a stricken yacht on an enormous blue expanse. As long as sailors keep their devices well maintained, well charged and protected from inadvertent submersion in water then the ocean can seem an almost safe place to transit.

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MS Türanor Chases the Sun

Alison Williams | Maritime News and Events | October 1, 2011

The world’s largest and most successful solar powered motor vessel has powered in to dock in Singapore recently its round the world voyage strangely receiving almost as quiet a reception by the world’s press as the noise from its electric engine.

The 31 metre long MS Türanor is certainly a strange sight, looking more like a gigantic glistening spider from outer space or a UFO than a conventional motor vessel – but conventional it certainly is not.

Built in Germany and launched in 2010, the boat is entirely powered by the sun via its over five hundred square metres of photovoltaic cells – solar panels to the non technically minded. The project was designed to use technology that was already readily available and to demonstrate the feasibility of a solar powered marine transportation system in these days of fossil fuel induced global warming and the steady and seemingly inexorable decline in the environmental health of the world’s oceans.

The boat is a catamaran that is designed to slip through the water with minimum effort and is part of the Planet Solar project that is the brainchild of Swiss former ambulance driver and solar inventor Raphaël Domjan and built by a yacht club in Kiel, Germany at a cost of around 15 million euros. It is owned and operated by a joint Swiss and French company.

The boat’s rather weird shape is due to the fact that it needs as much horizontal space as possible dedicated to exposing its hundreds of solar panels. The boat actually has two huge side flaps or wings that have additional panels that can be slid out of the way when the sea is particularly rough. The total maximum power capability of the panels is around 120 kilowatts, which are captured in the day time only by a massive lithium ion battery system which can power the 20 kilowatt electric engine day and night.

The voyage so far has taken the Türanor and its six permanent crew three quarters of the way around the world taking them across the Atlantic Ocean from Europe through the Panama Canal and across the Pacific Ocean to Australia then up through Indonesia to Singapore. The last leg of the trip will see them motor across the Indian Ocean to the Red Sea and up into the Mediterranean.

Because of the need for good levels of sunlight the Türanor’s navigators are in constant touch with weather forecasters in France who advise of the best routing taking into account areas of clear skies and maximum solar energy.

The boat is capable of a cruising speed of around 7 to 8 knots – the speed of an oil tanker and can motor for three days and nights at that speed in the absence of any solar recharging or for much longer at slower speeds.

As part of PlanetSolar’s stated desire to spread the message of alternative technology and pollution free marine transportation the Türanor has docked in many ports along its route. At each place the boat has captured the attention of the local inhabitants and has been used for educational and promotional trips in the vicinity for which it is able to carry up to 40 additional passengers for a short time.

The name of the solar powered craft is taken from a term used in Tolkien’s epic “Lord of the Rings” meaning “Power of the Sun”. To sum up the peculiar needs of this possible transport option of the future, the Türanor was christened at its launching by a young girl who, when smashing the traditional bottle of champagne against its hull, commented that she hoped that it would always have enough water under its keel and sunshine on its deck!

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Sea Shepherd’s New Anti-Whaling Vessel Damaged in the Southern Ocean

by Alison Williams on January 6, 2012 - 0 Comments

The Southern Hemisphere summer heralds the annual confrontations in the Antarctic of the Japanese whaling fleet and the anti whaling organisation Sea Shepherd, ...
SV Egret, Rudderless, arrives safely in St Lucia

by Alison Williams on January 13, 2012 - 0 Comments

There are many ordinary people who go to sea and do brave and amazing things, which the world never gets to hear about. This is a story of two such quiet heroes...
Traditional Boats Still Sail Bali’s Seas

by Alison Williams on January 3, 2012 - 0 Comments

We left the Lombok anchorage in the dead of night – to sail to Bali we had to take advantage of the strong north west going current that flowed up through the...
Dutch Teenager Breaks World Single Handed Sailing Record

by Alison Williams on January 24, 2012 - 0 Comments

Dutch teen Laura Dekker has just become the youngest sailor ever to undertake and complete a single handed circumnavigation of the globe. The sixteen year ol...

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