Australia's International Solar Boat Challenge
by Warren McLaren, Sydney on 07.20.06
Delft University have hardly dried off their solar watercraft after winning the Frisian Nuon Solar Challenge in the Netherlands and we get news that Australia is launching its own version. The International Solar Boat Challenge. Due to be held on 5 November 2006 in Sydney at the Penrith Regatta Centre, where the 2000 Olympic rowing champs were staged. A prize pool of $15,000 AUD is up for grabs with several classes of competition from piloted to model boats. All three tiers of education are encouraged to enter, as well as commercial entrants. There will be sprint slaloms and endurance races, and while the piloted boats may use batteries connected to their solar panels, the model vessels may not. Organisers are expecting entries from as far afield as Japan and the US. More details at — ::International Solar Boat Challenge, via Ferret.
It seems there's a buzz with solar boating lately but I think people are missing the point. Any of these solar boats would be blown away by a similarly sized sailboat, with less embodied energy. Solar power is great, but why not re-ebrace sailing as the green way to go boating?