After our first two days on the water, I’m happy to report that everything’s going well on board Race for Water. We sailed all of yesterday afternoon with about 15 knots of wind (about 17 miles per hour). With the wind behind us, we ran our first open water test of the mid-size kite (30 m2). And we’re very happy with the results of this hybrid method using the kite and our solar panels.
On these photos : Jean-Marc Normant
Photographer Peter Charaf
By the numbers
Using the kite for the first time allowed us to recharge Race for Water’s batteries. When we left Lorient (France) harbor on Sunday, April 9, the batteries were 90% charged. Because of the solar panels, they were only down to 70% by the end of the day. At dawn on Monday morning, they were at 30%.
But here’s where it gets interesting: because we were able to use the kite and the solar panels at the same time, the batteries were back up to 63% by Tuesday afternoon. Without the kite, that figure would have been more like 45%; we’re really pleased with Race for Water’s new setup and we’re really proud of everything that went into it. Plus we still have 30 solar panels that have to be installed on the sides of the hydrogen tank. But we’ll do that when the water is calmer, definitely when we’re heading down the coast of Portugal.
That’s the report on our zero-emissions system!