Back in 2007 I was lucky enough to capture some pictures of the Earthrace trimaran in Leith Docks , Edinburgh . This trimaran raced around the world in 65 days , powered by bio-diesel . It has a submarine design which allows it to cut through waves rather than over them. Earthrace has been criss-crossing the globe on the lookout for illegal fishing and hunting operations since 2006. The original boat was launched in 2006, and set a world record for round the world powerboat travel before it was destroyed in a collision with a Japanese whaling ship in 2010.
Now the development of Earthrace 2 has been announced . The team will attempt to create a new trimaran capable of assisting law enforcement on long-range, open-water missions.
Earthrace 2 is based on the original Earthrace and, like its predecessor, will run on renewable fuel but sport a Skysail Kite System for auxiliary power. When (or if) it sees the light of day, the new boat will serve as an operations base for the team’s missions battling wildlife crime around the world. Loaded up with a crew of 26, the larger vessel would support 28 day missions with a cruising range of 10,000 nautical miles (11,508 mi/18,520 km) at 12 knots (14 mph/22 km/h).
If it comes time to get into hot-pursuit mode, the 195-ft (60-m) boat could be pushed up to around 25 knots (29 mph/46 km/h). Alternatively, a 29-ft (9-m) Sealegs Amphibious Vessel and a Zodiac Dinghy would be hidden away within the hull, ready to be deployed if the team needs to board other boats on a mission.