The boat, Earthrace, is set to make another attempt at circumnavigating the globe fueled by biodiesel.
You might remember that Earthrace’s attempt fell short last year after it ran into problems, including hitting a Guatamalan fishing boat, killing one man. But this story in Motor Boat & Yachting says there’s another try to start on March 29th:
The international crew, led by New Zealander Pete Bethune, leave Sagunto, near Valencia, hoping to beat the 75-day mark set by British boat Cable and Wireless Adventurer in 1998.
They need to be back in Sagunto by 10 June.
The over-riding aim of the project is to raise awareness of the potential of biofuels and encourage people to lead more sustainable lives. The boat is run on biodiesel donated by SGC Energia in Portugal; the fuel is derived from waste cooking oil, as well as soya and canola oils.
To back up the sustainable message, the boat has been made using “environmentally friendly components”, such as hemp, and the project claims to maintain a carbon neutral status through the purchase of carbon offsets from www.downwithcarbon.org which uses the income to fund a sustainable biofuel project in Egypt.
The offsets account for any CO2 produced through transportation of the biofuel to the different fuel stops, the biofuel itself, and all travel undertaken by the ground crew, it is claimed.
You can follow the boat’s round-the-world progress at www.earthrace.net.