Portable fuel cell provides auxiliary power to transatlantic sailing boat

(11/01/2010)

The annual transatlantic race is part of the largest ocean sailing event in the world, attracting over 200 yachts each year. The race starts in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, and covers 2,700 nautical miles, finishing in Rodney Bay St. Lucia. UPS Systems’ Managing Director, Tom Sperrey, and his crew have been declared winners of the prestigious Atlantic Rally for Cruisers (ARC) racing division, having sailed his boat ‘Nightlife’ from Gran Canaria to St. Lucia.

A portable fuel cell on board provided auxiliary power: Nightlife had on board an EFOY 1600 methanol fuel cell. The unit generated 65W of electricity to power the navigation, computer and communications equipment.

“After being at sea for 16 days, we were absolutely delighted to reach St. Lucia and discover we had won the race,” said Tom Sperrey. “The fuel cell performed incredibly well, even under the hostile conditions of the mid-Atlantic. It’s perfect for sailing as it provided us with a quiet, clean, compact and reliable source of power that lasted for the whole trip. There isn’t much equipment on a boat that doesn’t require maintenance, but we didn’t have to worry about the fuel cell. Using the fuel cell for the communications equipment meant that we didn’t have to keep powering up the boat’s diesel engine to re-charge the batteries.”

Related categories:  UPS generators and batteries