by Olivier Grivat, swissinfo.ch

After a brief stop-off in Mumbai, Switzerland’s PlanetSolar is presently hugging the coastline of Pakistan on its 50,000-kilometre solar round-the-world voyage.


Project founder and crew member Raphaël Domjan talks to swissinfo.ch about the amazing welcome the boat has received so far and the huge challenges ahead as they prepare to cross the pirate-infested Arabian Sea.

The SFr16 million ($17.3 million) MS TÛRANOR PlanetSolar, which sails under a Swiss flag, is the world’s largest vessel of its kind and aims to raise awareness of renewable energies.

Five crew members are on board the huge solar-powered catamaran under the command of French captain Erwan Le Rouzic..

swissinfo.ch: Your boat recently escaped stormy weather off the Indian coast. How has it coped with rough seas?

Raphaël Domjan: Until now the boat has never been forced to seek refuge at a port owing to storms. Whenever there were very strong winds we were in the middle of the ocean.

In Australia there were 50-knot winds (around 100 kilometres per hour) with seven- to eight-metre-high waves. Beyond that it’s hard to know what the boat can stand.

But after completing two-thirds of the journey the boat has proven to be very solid and safe. The only breakages have been piles of crockery.

read more here: http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/specials/climate_change/energy/PlanetSolar_prepares_to_enter_pirate_waters.html?cid=31733334