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Showing posts with the label sun powered

the Sun-Powered Yacht Race

Monaco has always been known for its annual Formula 1 Grand Prix, in which racers whip around the hairpin turns of the principality's narrow streets, and its annual yacht show, in which some of the world's largest and most luxurious boats dock in Port Hercule. This summer, Solar1Races, the Monaco Yacht Club, and Dutch design firm Vripack are combining the two to launch the first solar-powered-yacht Grand Prix at the Solar1 race, set to take place July 10 to 12 in Monaco. The solar-powered race began as the Dong Energy Solar Challenge in Holland eight years ago, with two divisions: the hobby-level cruising class and a professional yachting class that was prohibitively expensive to most entrants. After competing for three years in the hobby class, the engineers at Vripack wanted to introduce a uniform racing division, where the boats would be more uniform but less expensive than the professional ones. For the new division, the design team developed the V20