Race - TU Delft Solar Boat Team

Monaco Energy Boat Challenge

Every year we show the potential of our sustainable boats in spectacular races. This year we competed in the Open Sea Class of the Monaco Energy Boat Challenge and proved the power of hydrogen! The spectacular challenge welcomes students and professionals from across the world to race in several classes with sustainable powered boats.

We entered the Open Sea Class with our project Hydro Motion. Our hydrogen powered trimaran has sailed on the great ocean! In order to win, we needed to get the highest score over a total of three race sections: maneuverability, sprint and endurance.

The ability to store and transport green energy is essential for sustainable shipping. To be as relevant as possible for the maritime industry, we put our focus on endurance challenge of the race. We have optimized our boat to sail as far as possible with the limited amount of energy we have on board.

Open Sea Class

Manoeuvrability challengeTest the maneuvering capabilities of the team and complete the set course within the least amount of time.

16 NM coastal raceThe team with the fastest boat to complete the course of about 16 nautical miles in length will win this challenge.

Endurance challengeThe biggest Challenge: sail for 6 hours straight without recharging. The team covering the most distance wins!

2021 Monaco energy boat challenge

It was amazing to arrive in Monaco with the whole team. We successfully completed our first race and flew over the Mediterranean sea with our trimaran. On the second day, the most complex electrical system of our boat was severely damaged, an enormous setback for the team. We examined the boat and were unable to repair it in Monaco with the resources we had. We were so disappointed to not sail the endurance challenge.

Nevertheless we can be extremely proud. We turned our dream of building the world’s first flying hydrogen boat into reality and showed the world the potential of green energy!