The next challenge for the bio-diesel fuelled 78 foot trimaran wave piercer Earthrace could be helping to save whales in Antarctica.
In June, 2008, ‘Earthrace’, with owner/skipper Pete Bethune and a volunteer crew circled the globe in 60 days, 23 hours and 49 minutes, slashing the previous record for a powerboat by an astonishing two weeks! During the long ocean legs Earthrace with a six tonne biofuel load powered up to 2,000 miles at 20 knots.
Bethune now has the New Zealand designed and built boat on the market for $1.5 million and its currently on a final tour of New Zealand after last year world record.
Powered by two 540-horsepower Cummins engines have a short range cruising speed of 30 knots and a top speed of 40 knots.
Earthrace could have a new future as a secret strike weapon against Japanese whalers in the Southern Oceans if the Kiwi skipper has his way…Â Details and PictureÂ
 The Hydroptere project to create a world record-breaking flying boat that will go around the world in 40 days is moving from lab phase to boat-building in two locations in Switzerland and France, the group has announced. Drawings were unveiled in Lausanne this week for the lab boat, Hydroptere.ch (see image) which will be a reduced scale version of the final Hydroptere Maxi boat. The smaller boat can be tested on Lake Geneva, closer to the group’s offices in Lausanne and the EPFL laboratories. The Lausanne polytechnic school is the official research partner.
The current Hydroptere catamaran officially broke the world sailing speed barrier at 61 knots in 2008. Alain Thébault and his team are now researching and testing
The construction work is being shared …Â Details
On Wednesday during a press conference organized in Lausanne, on the campus of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), which is the scientific adviser of the project, Alain Thébault and a part of his team unveiled the drawings of l’Hydroptère.ch
This new lab boat, whose building has already started in Brittany, will be a trial platform on a reduced scale for the future Hydroptère maxi.
Following the same experimental process as Alain Thébault who built three models before the existing 60 ft trimaran, the main purpose of l’Hydroptère.ch will be to test geometries and behaviours in real conditions in order to design l’Hydroptère maxi.
The programmes led by the Hydroptère team are scientific and technological projects, whose purpose is … Details & Pictures
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It’s only happened once, but already the new two race event format has brought a lot of opinions along with a lot of excitement for race fans and teams who now get to see two Grand Prix’s in one weekend instead of usual one as the U.I.M. F1 World Championship for power boating turns a new page in history in its 16 race schedule for the 2009 campaign.
What do the teams think of the new racing format?
“Its been great not only for our team, but for the spectators as well,†stated the Manager for Team Abu Dhabi and four-time World Champion Scott Gillman.
“Obviously we are pleased since each of our two drivers (Ahmad Al Hameli and Thani Al Qamzi) won a race at the Grand Prix of Portugal and I think it will take a mixture of time and education to have the race spectators understand that the first day of competition is as important as the second day which was our traditional Grand Prix time… DetailsÂ
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