Evoking sci-fi, solar-powered ship sails into Miami

[unhappycamper]

Evoking sci-fi, solar-powered ship sails into Miami
By Curtis Morgan | Miami Herald
Posted on Saturday, November 27, 2010

A vessel seemingly straight out of a vintage James Bond movie slipped into Miami Saturday morning.

The craft, a strange mash-up of gleaming glass arrowhead, sleek flying saucer and knife-nosed catamaran, was not designed by an evil madman plotting world domination. It's the brainchild of Raphael Domjan, a Swiss engineer and self-described "eco-adventurer" with a not-all-that crazy scheme to circle the world using only sunshine for fuel.

"We want to show what we can do with solar power," said Domjan during a satellite phone interview last week as the world's largest solar-powered boat cruised north of Haiti bound for a four-day stop at Miami Beach Marina, one of only two planned in the United States. "We have the technology to change the world, not tomorrow, but today."

The 102-foot-long Turanor PlanetSolar — which its team of Swiss-German builders says translates into "power of the sun" in the Elvish language JRR Tolkien invented for Lord of the Rings — is far from the first boat to run on the sun.

Back in 2007, the 46-foot Sun21 catamaran arrived in Miami from southern Spain to complete the first Atlantic crossing by a solar boat. Dozens of domestic builders now offer small craft capable of plying lakes or Biscayne Bay. But the Turanor is the biggest, most advanced and easily most eye-catching design yet. It's also built with the ambitious goal of circumnavigating the globe without burning a thimble of gasoline.



unhappycamper comment: That's a smart looking craft:

[LaurenG]

1. I love this! And its Elvish name - Turanor PlanetSolar

:hi:

[SpiralHawk]

2. Cool.

Just love it. Thanks for posting.

[Tunkamerica]

3. You know what would be really cool? A wind powered ship!

[Recursion]

6. Ha ha. But the crew needs are much smaller here

Even bermuda-rigged, a ship that size would require 4 or 5 people; if it were square-rigged, like 20.

[Tunkamerica]

11. alright... grudging support. wait. nope.

and then i saw the price. You could pay 200 people for less than that.

[NV Whino]

4. Beautiful!

And the catamaran design makes it very stable.

[BR_Parkway]

5. Looks like it could replace a lot of traditional ferry boats - and love the name

[roody]

7. I rode in a solar boat in Madrid last summer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTQSnzkBDCo

[txlibdem]

12. Here's the ship in action - cool video

Check out the propulsion: it's built into the pontoons, as this video shows.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcbFWo00jM4&NR=1

[txlibdem]

13. Here is another solar powered ship - not made by the same people

It is an impressive water craft: sleek design, low crew requirements, solar powered with two motors.

The Turanor has competition: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDtxbBMHkU0&feature=related

[polichick]

8. LOVE IT!

[Merchant Marine]

9. A cool demonstrator

Too bad it only makes 7.5 knots. That kills it right there. A slow catamaran ferry with diesels or turbines makes 20+ knots minimum.

[NNadir]

10. It only cost 20 million euros. What a bargain!!! Where can I get one?

Of course, one has been able, for most of this century, and the 20 or 30 centuries before, to buy a wind powered boat, usually at a more competitive price.