@: menno.looman@solarboatteam.nl

I was 16 years old when I went on a sailboat for the first time. The feeling of the wind, roll and speed was way more intense than expected and I was sold. In my bachelor I choose to do a minor in sailing yachts. In the first half we learned the basic mechanics and learned how to make design choices. In the second half we teamed up in small groups to design, build, test and race a one meter long model sailboat, which was remote controlled. The Solar Boat team has the same design cycle, but acts on a different scale and is way more professional.

This year the Solar Boat team is competing in the Solar Sport One competition. The Solar Sport One has a strict rule set, so all teams have to optimize within the given boundaries. The engineering challenge is really interesting and in order to win, we need to optimize a lot of systems while staying reliable enough to race.

I have finished my bachelor mathematics and will strengthen the team with the knowledge and skills I learnt. In the team I am part of the electronics department. All the theory and concepts of electrical engineering we use are new to me, nevertheless I am really excited to learn a lot of new principles. I believe the analytical way of thinking combined with the modeling and programming experience from mathematics will help me a lot within my function as software engineer.