On March 6, this unusual looking craft will leave Barbados on the first leg of a round the world record attempt. The course is very different from that taken by sailors, as the rules require power boats to pass through the Panama and Suez canals.
The aim is to take 10 days off Cable & Wireless’ 75 day record and to do it on bio-diesel.
CLICK ON THE IMAGES BELOW TO VIEW LARGER SIZE
On the face of it, the idea of charging round the earth in a powerboat, whilst burning $200,000 worth of fuel on the way, scarcely seems the right way to draw attention to environmental issues, but that’s before you know the bio diesel bit.
Pete Bethune is the man who dreamed up the Earthrace project, as well as the boat’s skipper. He has re-mortgaged his house three times, extracting $200,000 to keep the project afloat, as well as borrowing $75,000 for the boat build.
The team had, originally, estimated that the cost of the circumnavigation would be $500,000, including the fuel, which was to have been donated by Better Bio Diesel, a small start up bio diesel production company, in Southern Utah. Three months after signing up as sole biodiesel supplier, the company said it would no longer, financially, be able to supply Earthrace with the promised fuel for the race.
Earthrace is thankful for the three months of support and the total of $50,000 sponsorship over those three months, but is now at a loss as to how to finance the entire circumnavigation.
The crew members keep on asking themselves “What are we doing wrong?” They have all made sacrifices to keep alive the dream of “Racing Around the World for a Better Planet”, as the team’s slogan says, and to promote an alternative fuel that will help future generations - Bethune is in serious danger of losing his home - yet they are finding it hard to get support from bio fuel companies. In fact, the entire bio diesel industry has donated less then 5% to the Earthrace project, which is meant to promote it.
Why this is so is hard to understand, but it’s clear that this project has not captured the imagination of the industry or the public, in the way the team had hoped. Despite a world tour, stopping at major cities, and an appearance at the recent Miami Boat Show, website visitors are far fewer than anticipated and donations disappointing.
The record attempt will start, whether it is completed is a moot point. The team needs to find sources of sponsored bio diesel in Port Said, Malta and the Canary Islands; about 17,000 litres in each of those places! It also needs donations of air miles to get the shore crew from place to place and accommodation for them when they arrive. In an attempt to attract wealthy individuals, in search of excitement, they have cut back the crew for each leg, from 4 to 3, and hope to sell the fourth place to speed lovers.