Fastest Transatlantic crossing in a solar boat – MS TÛRANOR PlanetSolar today registered record in St. Marteen – 26 days, 19 hours and 10 minutes from Las Palmas to the Caribbean Islands powered solely by the sun
TÛRANOR PlanetSolar Catamaran
On her expedition around the globe, MS TÛRANOR PlanetSolar, the world’s largest solar boat, is approaching the United States. Having left in Monaco on the 27th of September, TÛRANOR is planned to dock in Miami on Monday, November 29. Miami is the first major stopover on the world tour. In Miami, the boat is touching US American ground for the first time.
Today, on November 18, TÛRANOR PlanetSolar briefly stopped in St Martin to register the fasted Transatlantic crossing of a solar boat yet. For TÛRANOR, it took 26 days and 19 hours 10 minutes to cover the distance between Las Palmas and St Marteen (before: Sun21 crossing the Atlantic in 2007 in 29 days, 8 hours 30 minutes). PlanetSolar’s project founder Raphaël Domjan (38) and the TÛRANOR Crew – Captain Patrick Marchesseau, Mikaela von Koskull, Jens Langwasser, Christian Ochsenbein and Daniel Stahl have covered 2.690 miles / 4.982 kilometres from Las Palmas to St. Marteen.
A technological feat of German-Swiss cooperation, the catamaran, measuring close to 102 feet in length and 50 feet in width, is on a pioneering circumnavigation around the globe entirely without the use of traditional fuels. It is powered exclusively by solar energy. The project PlanetSolar, based on the shores of Lake Neuchâtel in Switzerland and initiated by the Swiss Raphaël Domjan, seeks to test the boundaries of solar technologies and inspire people across the world with its ambitious voyage, attempting the first circumnavigation of the seas exclusively with solar power. Sailing under Swiss flag, the TÛRANOR PlanetSolar is literally carrying the message of the potential of solar energy around the world. For this project, high-efficiency solar cells of the US manufacturer SunPower Corporation (San Jose, California) were used. Through extensive manual work, an exceptionally large marine solar generator with a total area of approx. 540 m2 was created.
Raphaël Domjan says: “It’s a success for the whole team of PlanetSolar and our partners who for many years have put their know-how into this wonderful project. We are very proud to demonstrate that ‘we have the technology to change’. The new technologies and renewable energy represent an opportunity for our society, and there is incredible potential and challenge for this industry and business in the near future.”
“This is a milestone in the progress of solar mobility,” says Immo Ströher, Eco-Businessman and owner of TÛRANOR PlanetSolar. “It is my vision to see solar power take its rightful place – not only on rooftops, but also on the roads, seas and in the skies of the future.”
TÛRANOR PlanetSolar will be leaving St. Marteen today at ca. 10.30 a.m. LT / 03:30 p.m. UTC and is proceeding on her way to Miami. After the stop in Miami, TÛRANOR will head for Cancun, where she will dock during the World Climate Conference, as a flagship carrying the message about the efficient application of renewable energies around the world (excepted arrival Dec 6).
