CLAFIS Private Energy Solar Boat Team wins tough second day DONG Energy Solar Challenge

Team captain Gerard van der Schaar of the CLAFIS Private Energy Solar Boat Team is happy that he finished this second day with a good result. ‘It was a long day. With the evening stage we are finishing late and don’t have much time to charge our batteries. This makes the race of tomorrow even more thrilling.’

This second day of the DONG Energy was a tough day for a lot of competitors. ‘It were almost two stages in one, so therefore the battery capacity was tested heavily’, tells Natasja Kesteloo, head of the racing organization. ‘And there were also a lot of drop outs.’ A09 Marine Solar Boat Team from Indonesia wasn’t able to start at all due to technical problems. Also A16 Dutch Solar Boat Team couldn’t start the evening stage. ‘We were heading so good, when our motor controller broke’, tells team member Douwe Leffering. ‘It sucks, but we are going to install a new one tonight. We hope we are able to start again tomorrow.’ Also the teams YTU Solar Boat Team (A11) from Turkey, Uantwerp Solar Boat Team (A13), Avans Solar Mariteam (A14), VHL Nordwin zonnebootteam (A18), ZSC Solar Boat Team (A21), Midnight Sun MAMK (B43) and the Carnegie Mellon Solar Racing (T61) weren’t able to finish the race.

The SDOG Racing Team (T68) is determined to resume the race on Wednesday, after their boat completely burned down yesterday. They are preparing their solar boat with which they participated in 2010. ‘We cried, but started again. We can’t compete for the race rankings, but we are competing again. That’s what it’s all about’, tells team member Niek van Prooijen.

Top class:

• T63: CLAFIS Private Energy Solar Boat Team - 1.17.02
• T65: TU Delft Solar Boat Team - 1.36.21
• T66: Team Gowrings Energy - 2.03.25

Challenge A :

• A22: Scigrip Solar Boat Team - 2.26.11
• A19: NHL Solarboat Racing - 2.30.13
• A7: WhisperPower Racing - 2.36.43

Challenge B:

• B46: GUT SOLAR - 2.45.18
• B45: HvA Solarteam - 2.58.40
• B44: Solarteam ROCvA - 3.04.11

V20:

• V81: Koninklijke Marine Solar Team - 2.25.32
• V84: DC Solar Team - 3.24.17
• V83: Achterhoek - 3.35.24