Newsletter

7th of July

Endurance Challenge

Today was our second and most important challenge; the Endurance Challenge. This challenge gave us the opportunity to show the true potential of hydrogen in the maritime industry. For the Endurance Challenge we had four hours to sail as many nautical miles as possible. We sailed the distance in laps, and the boat that completed the most laps wins! For us the trick was to balance the speed with energy consumption. We needed to sail as fast as possible while keeping an eye on the amount of energy we consumed. We had an advantage over the other energy sources because hydrogen has a high energy density. It can therefore carry a lot of energy at a lower weight compared to other fuels. And because we have such an advantage over the other teams we didn’t need to sail at full speed so that we have more hydrogen left for the speed challenge.
We were in the lead from the start and really showed why hydrogen is better for endurance than batteries. Unfortunately, about 2;45h into the race the wind started to pick up, creating big waves. We decided to go back to the harbour early to eliminate any risks for our pilots and Aurora. Luckily we already had such a lead that we still finished in first place! The number two did choose to sail the whole four hours but they did not manage to overtake us. This win is a big step towards the World Championship.

Speed Challenge

Tomorrow, we’re gearing up for the Speed Challenge! We will sail back and forth to Ventimiglia, an Italian city located 8 nautical miles away. In total we’ll sail 16 nautical miles, equivalent to approximately 26 kilometres. The objective is simple: the fastest boat wins. Thanks to our foils, which reduce drag and enable us to glide over the water, we can achieve speeds of up to 50 km/h compared to the 35 km/h we would be sailing without foils.

Stay tuned

Keep an eye out for the next newsletter to be kept up to date. The next newsletter will be arriving tomorrow after we sailed the Speed Challenge. Do you know someone who is not yet receiving this newsletter but would like to? Send an email to exposure@hydromotionteam.nl or click on the link below. Via the link, you can enter an email address and will be asked to confirm via Mailchimp’s email. Feel free to send any comments or questions to exposure@hydromotionteam.nl

See you next time!