Project Torpedalo – Guest Blog by Mike Sayer

Posted by: Amiee Category: Youth awards Date: Friday, February 17, 2012

On Thursday 9^th Feb, my colleague Mark Byass and I had the pleasure to speak at the NWAA New Talents Awards about a ridiculous adventure that we’re working on in our spare time – Project Torpedalo.

In 2013, we’ll attempt to traverse 3,000 miles across the Atlantic Ocean, in a self designed and built pedal-powered boat dubbed “Torpedalo”, in a project to raise a huge amount of money for two amazing charities – the Motor Neurone Disease (MND) Association and Make-A-Wish Foundation^® UK.

The state-of-the-art 8.3m long carbon fibre pedal-boat, the first of its kind, will either travel from the Canary Isles to Barbados or from New York to Penzance. A two-man pedalo has only ever crossed the Atlantic once, in 1994, taking 111 days; we’re aiming to complete the journey in just 38 days, and would be the first to have done so in a self-built vessel. The boat has been built at no cost by lead sponsors Norco GRP in Poole, with support from a huge number of manufacturing and equipment sponsors. Given the charitable nature of the project, from the outset we vowed never to spend a single penny of money donated, so that all of it could go to charity. We’ve succeeded in this goal, having designed, built and equipped the boat on a budget of £0.

The Torpedalo will be the most technologically advanced human-powered boat ever built, featuring a unique design optimised for a World-Record-breaking expedition. Torpedalo’s speed, balance and hydrodynamics have undergone extensive simulation and testing at Newcastle University’s hydrodynamic towing tank.  The high-tech, totally self-sufficient vessel is constructed entirely of carbon fibre, and will include integrated solar panels for electricity generation, a desalination system for making fresh water from the ocean and GPS, radar and satellite phone systems.

In anticipation of the journey, we’ve also constructed a web site – www.Torpedalo.com – to chronicle our adventures in fundraising, designing and building the boat, to provide facts and figures about the impending challenge, and to regularly update followers once we set out on the Atlantic in 2013.

The Torpedalo’s journey will be a distinctly perilous one, with commercial shipping vessels, bad weather, huge waves, and even sharks all posing a significant threat – indeed, all of these factors have caused rowing boats to retire from ocean rowing races in the past.  We’ll operate a shift pattern, so the boat is always moving, and will change places between the pedalling position and the sleeping cabin every two hours. To avoid salt sores, we’ll be naked for the entire journey.

As of the start of February, the boat is built and we’ve started the process of fitting it out with the electrical system. We’re hoping to have the boat in the water by the start of summer, so that the rest of the year can be spent testing it in all conditions. Once we’re satisfied that the boat is safe and performing to the best of its potential, we’ll finalise the details of the Atlantic attempt and get ready for the challenge!

Project progress can be followed through www.Torpedalo.com. Updates and progress may also be followed via Twitter and Facebook by searching for “Torpedalo” online.

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