MS Tûranor Planetsolar is a new record breaker in terms of eco sailing. It is the world’s first entirely solar-powered vessel to circumnavigate the globe, in a journey that lasted 1 year, 7 months and 7 days. This, however, is not the only record that the ship has broken.
It also registered the fastest crossing of the Atlantic Ocean by solar vessel (26 days 19 hours, 10 minutes), the fastest crossing of the South China Sea, again by solar boat (4 days, 23 hours, 45 minutes), and the longest distance ever covered by a sun-powered electric vehicle.
The name of the catamaran was inspired by J.R.R. Tolkien’s book, The Lord of the Rings, “Tûranor” meaning “The power of the Sun”. It proudly wears 5,780 square feet of photovoltaic panels, totaling 38,000 solar cells. The energy is stored in six giant blocs of Li-ion batteries.
After passing through 11 seas, 2 oceans and 28 countries, the vessel finished its long around-the-world journey in May 2012, but it has already started a new journey this month, planning to reach several famous ports in the Mediterranean sea. What a wonderful site this 115-foot catamaran is!
