‘Climate neutral participation is more important to us then winning’

Characterized by the Frisian short trousers and the green boat ‘De Griene Sinnefretter’ (GSF) this fanatic and crazy solarboatteam, as they name their self, wants to achieve a good  acquirement in front of their home public. ‘With some team members who participated in 2008 and a group with new students from the Van Hall Larenstein and the AOC Friesland, both colleges in Leeuwarden, this has to be achieved’, says project leader Willem Bakker.

With team number B2 this team wants to participate climate neutral. Both colleges teach milieu science, however they don’t teach techniques they will build a solarboat. Bakker: ‘our first goal isn’t to win this competition. Our goal is to finish this race completely climate neutral. This shall be realized by using cradle to cradle, CO2 credits and sustainable cars.’

Wednesday April 14th, the first test-drive took place. ‘It’s always exiting to make a first test-drive even though it’s the third time the GSF made a test-drive. In 2008 the same boat joined the FSC and in 2009 we raced in the Zeeuwse Zonneboot Race. Every year we changed something to approve this boat’, says team member Remco Elzinga.

This year the solarboat is stripped again, they watched and improved almost all technical parts. A new engine is bought and for the first time this team has a lighter battery. Elzinga: ‘This year we don’t like to get a time penalty. Because of the changes the third test-drive was exiting again. After the last preparations the test-drive succeeded, all systems functioned well. We even made a small joyful ride, that’s the beauty of solar energy, you don’t need any fuel. During this test-drive we’ve found some improvements in the boat alignment. Coming weeks we plan to work heard and keep our heads up high for our start in the Prinsentuin on the 4^th of July.

For more information sent an e-mail to this team >>

‘FSC is the world championship for solar boats’

For the third time they participate in the A-class from the Frisian Solar Challenge. But for the first year they will also compete in the Top-class. Solar Team Groningen, with participating numbers A22 and C7.

‘Solar Team Groningen is an unique cooperation between educational institutions Univercity of Groningen, Hanzehogeschool Groningen, Praedinius GymnasiumNoorderpoortcollege’,  says Margreet van der Velde, project leader of this solar team. ‘This cooperation is established from the thoughts to make techniques and sustainability attractive for young people.

The Challenge A-class boat, AquaNova, is the A-class boat from 2006. This boat is used by Secondary Education in Groningen. Together with the new Topclass-boat, they stay in the skill-lab from the Centre Professional training. That’s why students and teachers have lots of contact with each other and a natural cooperation arises.

AquaNova (A22), the well-known orange catamaran, is going to race again. After the success from last edition this team would like to take the FSC trophy to Groningen again. ‘We don’t know what we could expect, but we have heard a lot of enthusiastic stories about the challenge week in Friesland. A lot of supporters, family and friends will come to encourage us.

The new Topclass-boat is still without a name. This completely new designed and build catamaran will be baptized on June 26th during the Rotary Roei Regatta Groningen. ‘This new solar boat is innovative and will race with hydrofoils. The boat is also as light as possible so we hope to reach top speed. In the beginning of April we started testing the hull. There is a concept on paper, now we have to make sure everything is strong enough en technically sound. Because on paper there still isn’t a real boat, this is pretty exiting!’, says van der Velde.

Both boats hope to get on the podium. Margreet van der Velde thinks Frisian Solar Challenge is the world championship for solar boats. ‘It’s an unique event where organizations and education are closely related. Participating is an experience of innovations, helping each other and racing. It’s a wonderful competition.’

You can find more information about Solar Team Groningen on their website, click here>>

Follow the Frisian Solar Challenge: live on internet!

‘Nice weather, good company, racing around Friesland. You can follow all of this online. Not in the evening on television, but live on the internet’, said Dennis Carton. He’s founder of Geosports, the company that makes live online reports of sport events. ‘Every solar boat is being followed with an own sender by a special track and trace-system. Not only the winners are important, but all of the competitors will be followed.’

The cooperation between Geosports and Frisian Solar Challenge started in 2008. During the Frisian Solar Challenge there are video’s, photo’s, track and trace and reports past online. Dennis Carton: ‘people can upload their own pictures and reports. There will be a great online network of participants, visitors and organizers.’ In the mean time we develop new stuff. This year the live environment will be one with the Frisian solar website. ‘probably there will be some new features, but this stays a surprise for a little while’, says Dennis Carton.

Geosports works for a lot of different events. ‘Every event has his own charm, but the Frisian Solar Challenge is a fantastic event. People are nomadic and you’ll see that participants and the organization mix together and with each other. Personally I think it’s a nice event, because of the technical orientation. Many aspects come together during this week. And you can follow all of this online.’

Picture: Dennis (left) together with Dirk during the race in 2008. Dirk arranges the technics during the Solar Challenge.

‘It’s a Challenge to manage everything the right way again’

He is leader of the competition committee Frisian Solar Challenge (FSC) for the third time, Jan Kooistra. The competition committee keeps an eye on the rules during the race. If there are any violations he will report this to the jury or to the chairman of the technical committee.

How do you become leader of the competition committee during a solar challenge?

‘I have got a lot experience as member of a competition committee in national en international sailing events. Frisian Solar Challenge is a different competition, but we make the rules the same way. Therefore is every race a new challenge, we have to manage everything the right way.’

What’s so special about FSC?

‘I think FSC is a great event and the cooperation between participants and volunteers is unique. Teams ”grow” during this event. I mean that during the week every team becomes one. To see the contact and relations between team members is a wonderful experience. You don’t want to miss that.’

What’s the special element?
‘Every race is a new challenge for our team of 15 people. We make sure that the race is played fair and safe. I’m looking forward to meet all participants again and to race the FSC.’

See you at the Prinsentuin, Leeuwarden!

Natasja Kesteloo: “Catched by the solar fever”

From the beginning Natasja Kesteloo is involved by the organisation of the solarboatrace. With her ‘solar roots’ she saw the FSC becoming a great event. Natasja is owner of Noordplan in Leeuwarden an office specialized in events  and she is also leader of the competition. She pulls the strings regarding to the organization of the challenge.

For the third edition in 2010, there is made a big progress in the quality, as well as in the organization as in the challenge. For example the minimum speed of sailing is changed, that makes the level of the race higher. Natasja gets a lot of energy from the collabaration between the teams and the extern partners. “Adolecents and professionals learn from each other. The mix between this two groups in one race is very special. That’s why it’s very pleasant to organize the event.”

Natasja’s hopes that the FSC in the future becomes a returning event.  “The FSC is the precursor of other (international) solarboatraces. For example the Brazilian solarboatrace used our regulation. We’re going to see each other about six months. I am looking forward to it, because what is more beautiful than to see solarboats sailing through the Frisian waters with the sun on your face?”

Challenges for an organizer

The preparations for the third edition of the Frisian Solar Challenge are in full swing. We want more national and international competitors. An edgier competition in the TOPclass, more media exposure, more innovations and more safety for the teams. Quite a job I sighed to myself at the beginning of the year.

Well, we have done a lot so far. The rules and regulations have improved on some major issues. Our own organisation is running a tighter job and, very important, the first teams have applied. Now we have to work hard in getting the money to fit our ambitions. The ruling economic climate means that we have to offer our partners value for money. This is a major part of the work Nils Beers and me are doing at the moment.

It is great to see and to welcome the initiatives that have come from the first two editions of our race. Brazil organised and hosted it’s first race last month and there are similar plans in India and Malaysia. Not to forget the race that was held on the Lago Maggiore in Italy last summer, I was fortunate enough to visit it. After that visit I had the chance to see Hans Bloem, Wim Zwaaiman and Jennifer Bundle who work at the JRS energy institute in Ispra. This is the team that did all the solar panel testing in the C Class in Leeuwarden last year.

All this inspired me very much. I hope we in the future unite all these institutes, teams and initiatives in a sort of World Federation For Solar Boat Events. That would be really great.

Andries van Weperen
Event director FSC 2010

A first Desafio Solar Brasil

When a colleague of ours came up with the idea to take part in the Frisian Solar Challenge, we all thought it was a bit of a crazy idea, but a nice one at that. None of us knew about photovoltaic energy and solar panels. We knew a lot about boats. At the Pólo Náutico, the naval architecture lab where we work, we produce about 25 boats per year. So building a boat has never scared us. But dealing with solar energy was another story.

We built our boat, a slender mono-hull, in a little more than three months, the Copacabana. Our boat surprised us. Despite the fact that we hadn’t tested the solar panels, had no idea what the insolation in The Netherlands is actually like, and had no experience navigating in canals, we did pretty well during the Frisian Solar Challenge and came fourth of our class, class A. But more importantly, we realized one thing: that using solar panels to produce energy to power small boats is not that complicated, and that it has huge potential in our country, Brazil, which gets on average 5,2 kWh/m2 of solar energy per day…. So we came back from The Netherlands with a new idea: to organize our own solar boat race.

The first Desafio Solar Brasil started end october! After the prologue the next six days were to be full of emotions. Twelve teams, nine catamarans and three mono-hulls, fought fiercely for a place on the podium. Because there are very few universities that offer naval engineering courses and few places that have facilities for building boats in Brazil, the Pólo Náutico had provided catamarans to the teams that couldn’t built their own hull – the majority of them. Designing the rest of the boat and building the electric system, however, was left up to them.

The six stages of the Desafio Solar Brasil took place in the bays around Paraty. This part of Brazil, of outstanding beauty, is called ‘the green coast’ because mountains covered with deep green Atlantic Rainforest fall straight into the sea.

After an intense week of competition, the boats were finally racing through the last stage, in the bay of Paraty. The technical committee and the judges of the competition declared Vento Sul, the boat from the Federal University of Santa Catarina first overall, in the catamaran class, followed by Peixe Galo of the Grael Institute, and Agua Viva, of the Instituto Nautico, from Paraty. There was a place for everyone on the podium in the mono-hull class. Carcará and Gabriela, two boats from the COPPE lab of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro stole the first and second places, and Ipanema, Copacabana’s cousin, named after the equally famous beach, but made out of carbon fiber, came third.

According to everyone who participated, the first Desafio Solar Brasil was a success. Despite a sometimes uncooperative weather, and a couple of technical problems (the transmitter that we bought to transmit the race live still hasn’t arrived!), everything went smoothly. A committee has already been created for the organization of the second Desafio Solar Brasil, and registration is open for the Desafio Solar Brasil 2010!

Read more about the Frisian Solar Challenge on Hiswa

Read more about the Frisian Solar Challenge on HiswaRead more about the Frisian Solar Challenge on HiswaRead more about the Frisian Solar Challenge on HiswaRead more about the Frisian Solar Challenge on HiswaRead more about the Frisian Solar Challenge on HiswaRead more about the Frisian Solar Challenge on HiswaRead more about the Frisian Solar Challenge on HiswaRead more about the Frisian Solar Challenge on HiswaRead more about the Frisian Solar Challenge on HiswaRead more about the Frisian Solar Challenge on Hiswa