Overall winner was Gideon Goudsmit’s FastCat 445 Green Motion World Cruiser, which makes fossil fuel free ocean cruising a reality. The concept of this 44ft cruising cat was proven in a voyage from South Africa to Holland. “I’ve worked on this project for eight years, with many mishaps along the way, but we’ve succeeded in our objective of creating a fossil-fuel free ocean going boat,” he says.

In addition to solar and wind generators providing electrical power, the boat’s motors can be used as generators when sailing. The system generates energy for propulsion, hot water, cooking and all electrical equipment, with lithium-ion batteries providing range under power of over 80 nautical miles, albeit at slow speed. Goudsmit has also developed a version for monohulls, with the drive retracting into the hull, which has obvious appeal for racing yachts as well as long-distance cruisers.

The medal for the greatest contribution to hybrid motors went to Agni Motors and Cedric Lynch. Lynch is a long-standing innovator whose motors are up to 93 per cent efficient – double that of the best diesel engines. They are used on a wide variety of boats, including a solar-powered ferry, fishing vessels and as auxiliary power for sailing yachts.

“We don’t target specific sectors,” says Agni CEO Arvind Rabadia. “We just build the best motors we can – the market is huge and growing rapidly. In the next few years we’ll see a lot more electrically driven boats. We’re investing a lot in improving the efficiency of our motors, and at the same time batteries and solar panels are becoming more efficient.” Agni’s 95-R motor looks deceptively petite – it’s only a few inches thick and the diameter of a dinner plate. Yet it develops 21bhp, with 40bhp available in short bursts, comparable with a diesel engine of many times the volume and weight.

Other finalists included Graham Hawksley’s Hybrid Marine, which has already won accolades for its integrated parallel hybrid drive and the Slovenian-designed Greenline 33 hybrid motor yacht, sold in the UK by Saltern’s Brokerage. Inland category winner was a 20ft solar-powered boat by Tamarack Lake Electric Boat Co. Cynics might cite the UK’s poor summers as a problem for solar power here, but the Electric Boat Association‘s Tony Rymell points out that long daylight hours in summer compensates for this.

The future?
So far electric propulsion has been a small market niche, but the tipping point at which this will change may be approaching. Another attendee at the awards, racing yachtsman and former RTYC vice commodore Robin Aisher, is looking at a different market for electric power – commuter motorbikes in the developing world. He anticipates huge growth, with millions of units sold. If that happens the economies of scale will benefit all users of electrical power, including boat owners.

Sam Goodchild leads the fleet round the last mark of an inshore racing during winter training at La Grande Motte. Photo © Rupert Holmes

Britain virtually invented single-handed long-distance racing, with the original OSTAR trans-Atlantic race back in 1960, but for the past three decades the scene has been dominated by French sailors. Granted, Mike Golding, Ellen MacArthur, Sam Davies, Dee Caffari and others have achieved notable success, but there simply haven’t been enough well-funded British sailors to challenge the French supremacy.

However, British sailors are now making big inroads, most recently with Nigel King and Sam Goodchild taking second and third places in this year’s Transmanche race, sailed in the super-competitive Figaro class.

In such a tight fleet – after 150 miles all boats bar one finished within 50 minutes after – it would be easy to ascribe this success to luck – being in the right place when the wind filled in. However both the shut down and the new wind were clearly forecast, so everyone had this information in advance. Sam and Nigel managed the fine balance between focusing on boat speed and big-picture strategy to perfection, positioning themselves to get into the new wind first and sail around the fleet. Their success was no accident.

Although Conrad Humphreys wasn’t so well placed, he still found the race a positive experience: “Whilst I finished 15 of the 21 starters, there were some good moments in this race… I’m sailing the boat much better, but my decision making at crucial moments is still rusty… The speed differences in this fleet are tiny, so it’s crucial to be always thinking ‘Where do I want to be next’ and visualising the legs ahead.”

All three skippers are part of the Artemis Offshore Academy, established last year to nurture British campaigns capable of winning the Vendee Globe Race. Last winter’s training at the Centre d’Entrainement Mediterranee, at La Grande Motte, near Montpelier, was perhaps the first time that a group of funded British sailors have been able to get the same training as French skippers.

When I visited in February it was telling that the French sailors were learning as much from the Brits as vice-versa. “The English are very good sailors who come from a different sailing background, so our skippers are also learning things that help them become faster,” explained the centre’s directeur sportif and head coach, Franck Citeau.

In six weeks’ time it will be well worth keeping an eye on the Brits’ performance in the season’s main event, La Solitaire du Figaro.