Eight years of fundraising, 64,000 hours of construction, and 19 months at sea enduring storms, cloudy days and threats of pirate attacks, enabled the MS Turanor to make history on May 6, when it pulled safely into Port Hercules, Monaco completing the first ever round-the-world journey by a solar-powered vessel.

The Turanor is the brainchild of founder and expedition leader, Raphael Domjan, who created the foundation PlanetSolar to promote the use of solar energy worldwide as a viable alternative energy source. The boat was christened ‘Turanor’ after a word meaning ‘power of the sun’ from JRR Tolkein’s Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Raised in Switzerland, Domjan fine tuned his propensity for the unknown by exploring surrounding caves. He later trained as a mountain guide and a rescue specialist in hazardous environments. His training paid off during the more dangerous parts of the journey. At various times the ship and crew had to weather winds of up to 100 kilometers an hour as it was hit by storms off the Vietnamese and Australian coasts.

“We faced some really rough weather, but the boat always operated well during those times, even better than we expected,” he said.

In fact, Domjan says that the most serious threat came not from the sea, but from fellow man. While crossing the Gulf of Aden, a waterway in the Arabian Sea notorious for kidnapping and hijacking, Domjan no other option but to hire six French soldiers for protection:

“Normally ships speed up to 15 or 20 knots when crossing this area but we couldn’t go faster than five knots,” said Domjan.

In fact, one of Turanor’s comparative limitations is its modest pace. It has a maximum speed of only 7.5 knots (14 kilometers an hour), less than that of a large oil-tanker. Fortunately for Domjan and his crew, no pirates attempted to confront them, the French commandos or the unusual looking boat.

With a $16 million dollar price tag and weighing in at 60 tons and 30 meters long, the Turanor is adorned with 536 square meters of photovoltaic panels – enough to cover two tennis courts. The boat also boasts the world’s largest rechargeable lithium battery capable of storing enough power to allow the Turanor to be at sea for five sunless days.

The architecture, styling, and structural engineering of Turanor was the effort of LOMOcean Design and constructed by Kiel’s Knierim Yachtbau, utilizing European solar, battery, electrical and propulsion technology and expertise.

“Everywhere we went people would flock around the boat. They had never seen such a strange design before,” Domjan added.

Domjan was emotionally overwhelmed and after disembarking, stated:

“We are extremely happy to have achieved this first world tour with solar energy! We have shown that we have the technologies as well as the knowledge to become sustainable and safeguard our blue planet! This exploit would not have been possible without the support of our partners, and in particular without the support of the German pioneer of solar energy, and co-founder of PlanetSolar, Immo Stroeher, who was personally and financially committed to the success of this unique adventure.”

Now back at home, Domjan is taking some time to recharge his own batteries, before getting back to work and creating new ways to promote the solar power message to the world. In addition to promoting solar energy as a viable energy source, the historic journey also earned the project some impressive Guinness World Records. The Turanor is now on the books for longest solar journey, first solar circumnavigation, fastest solar crossing of the South China Sea, fastest solar crossing of the Atlantic, and the world’s largest solar-powered boat.

“I really hope our journey will make people realize the sheer power of solar energy and that it can be used efficiently for long-haul travel,” said Domjan.

“The aim of this journey was to show the world that this technology is not science fiction, it is very real and it can help us change how we do things now rather than in the future,” said Domjan.

Source: CNN, Charter World