Results of 2011 Wye Island Electric Boat Marathon
Seven boats participated in the 2011 WIEBM held last Friday, Sept 30th in St. Michaels, MD. The weather was perfect for the event this year, and the entries varied from Kayak/Canoe types running a modified trolling motor up to a 40+ foot rowing skull with a custom built driveleg type motor. This event has been running for 11 years and is hosted by Tom Hessilink of the EBAA.
The winning boat was built by Ned Farinholt borrowing largely from the old `hot rod' technique (strip out everything you don't need and stuff in the biggest motor you can fit) and ran the approx. 24 mile course up on plane at speeds averaging 10mph! Ned took an almost throw-away vintage Starcraft aluminum 15ft skiff and installed a Torqeedo 4.0 Cruise w/High Pitched Prop, powered by 8kwh of Thundersky Lithium cells. He can hit over 12mph at full throttle.
1 boat had `technical difficulties' and did not finish, and another boat didn't have enough range to finish the full course, but 5 boats made it around, in this order:
First: Ned's Torqeedo powered 15' Starcraft skiff
Second: EPowerMarine's Torqeedo powered 23' Calypso launch
Third: eCanoe's modified trolling motor powered 20' Old Town canoe
Fourth: Budsin Woodcraft's inboard powered 15' classic mahogany launch
Fifth: Phil Donahue's Torqeedo powered 22' aluminum pontoon
Did Not Finish: Charlie and Paul's 40+ foot rowing skull with custom drivetrain
Did Not Attempt: 16' Folbot with 300 +/- watts of solar panels
More info and detailed results will be posted at electricboats.org soon. Thanks to all who participated and also the chase boats from PropTalk magazine! It was a fun time, and we hope to have more entries next year.
Capt. Todd
www.epowermarine.com
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