Interesting race…oddly, there's but one sponsor (a lead-acid battery manufacturer named "First Charge, 'Clean Energy Stored Here'"), zero information on one of the boats and nearly zero information on the other of the 2 boats entered in the race. And the only info on the 2 teams is a lengthy 'military electronics and weapons systems' career bio on the program manager/captain for one of the teams ("Lee Wheelbarger, inventor"), who happens also to be the "race director". The boat: a 40ft sailboat being converted to solar.
I suppose it's a nice way to get funding for a fun trip, but pretty self-serving in its being nearly a secret race. I say nearly secret because until now, this has been completely off the radar to this group---and certainly there are at least a couple folks on this list who are at least close to having a vessel that could do that trip if given enough advanced notice. That this "race" is just 40 days away, that the focus seems to be to set 2 Guinness World Records, that the organizer is also the main competitor and that the organizers didn't bother reaching out and informing groups such as ours of the race all suggest that this is largely a self-promotional event. Still, it would be cool if one or more of the folks on this list could get registered, boat optimized and blow the doors off these 2 "newby" solar electric boats…
Note: They should at least correct the spelling of their 3rd mandatory stop in the race---"Steward, Florida" should be "Stuart, Florida"
Technically, this is an ambitious "race"---each of the first legs of the trip look to be about 90 miles each. Let's say you could achieve a 7mph average solar cruising speed and let's say that cost to go that speed is nom. 600wh/mile (40ft sailboat est.). Then it would take approx. 54kwh to do each leg. At 7mph, the 90miles would take nom. 13hours---several hours longer than the solar day, so either the solar array needs to be much bigger to maintain that average speed or each leg of the trip needs to be a 2 day trip. Let's say that one wanted to do it in one solar day and let's say you used 20% efficient panels: In March in So. Florida, the insolation is nom. 5-6 kwh/sqm. Available energy from PV would then be of 1250-1500w-h/sqm. For 54kwh capacity, the array would need to be 36-4sqm in size---an array that's 3m wide by 12-14m long might do that. But then, your 40ft boat is 100% covered in commercial 20% solar panels to do that…doable, but pushing it.
Now, as we know, there's a steep range cost paid for speed. Slow your boat down by 1knot and the power drops by half, typically. So in the example above, an array half the size (27kwh/day) should allow the same boat to go 1kt slower (5.9mph) and still make the "day trip" taking about 2 hours longer to do it. But since this is a "race", why race to get there in 13 or 15hours only to wait until the next day to go? Wouldn't it perhaps be faster and more efficient to cruise slower and carry enough stored capacity to travel 'round the clock'? At 90 miles/24 hrs, a boat that travels just 3.75mph round-the-clock will average the same speed as the one that ran at an inefficient 7mph and petered out in 13hours with the same solar array, right? Not really: The boat traveling at 3.75mph would use between 4x and 5x less energy to do that trip than the one that cruised at 7mph.
But night traveling costs in terms of storage---maybe 2x-3x the daily KWH from sun needs to be stored and managed. So that capacity, weight & space needs to be balanced against just brute forcing a larger and more efficient solar array...
So, there are plenty of options and strategies to choose from if the race is truly a race over the long haul and not just a race between checkpoints. But in reading the race's website, it's not at all clear what the rules are. Here's about it:
"All teams must be fully self-sufficient and encouraged to deploy the most innovative approaches to energy management. Each leg provides interesting and unique challenges and spectacular scenery.
There are mandatory check points to ensure safety over challenging water bodies and where local events are scheduled. Mandatory stops offers captains and navigators the opportunity to update themselves with the latest information on the weather and their own position in the field. Here teams may perform maintenance and stock up on provisions.
There are also undisclosed check points which may be imposed by the event officials to ensure regulatory compliance."
Will teams be allowed to start off with 40kwh of energy to start with? The focus seems to be 'checkpoints' and no constraints on rules.
http://americassolarboatcup.com/index.php/the-challenge/
And the application form seems more about revealing who the organizers' competitors might be than anything:
http://americassolarboatcup.com/index.php/join-the-race/
And it's "bus voltage", not "buss voltage"…
There also doesn't seem to be anything about cost to enter the race, prizes or anything…so again, this all seems to be a self-serving stunt for 2 teams who decided to invent a new Guinness World Record and to ensure that they would win it by not actively inviting competition with enough time to join. Hey you Wye Island Challenge folks---why not establish a Guinness World Record for the race?
-Myles Twete, Portland, Or.
From: electricboats@yahoogroups.com [mailto:electricboats@yahoogroups.com]
Sent: Tuesday, February 02, 2016 8:03 AM
To: yahoogroups
Subject: [Electric Boats] Solar Electric Regatta
Found this on the web. Is anyone here thinking of competing in it? (or even heard of it)
Capt. Carter
www.shipofimagination.com
Posted by: "Myles Twete" <matwete@comcast.net>
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