Think you can design a boat?
A boat design competition has received a boost from The Green Blue – and it means entrants don’t have to pay the entry fee!
The Mansura Trophy was launched worldwide in February to find a new hybrid-electric craft and thereby encourage environmentally friendly means of waterborne travel.
The news means the entrants compete on a level playing field, regardless of their resources.
A spokesman for the competition says: “As the expressions of interest have gathered pace since the launch of this prestigious competition, the Trustees, led by Chairman Jack Edwards from the Royal Thames Yacht Club, have been struck by the enormously wide technical variety and disparate sizes of the 20 plus entries to date, not to mention the differences between large and successful yards on the one hand and solitary inventors ploughing a lonely furrow on the other. They are confident that an entry for the Mansura Trophy will ensure that competitors’ technical skill and innovation is brought to the attention of a global audience.”
Entrants who have already submitted a payment will receive a full refund and new competitors need only complete the entry request available on the Mansura Trophy website www.mansuratrophy.royalthames.co.uk to receive their numbered entry pack and be registered for the 2007 competition.
Completed entry forms should be submitted to the Secretariat, The Royal Thames Yacht Club, 60 Knightsbridge, London SW1X 7LF by 1200 noon GMT on Monday 19th November 2007. The full rules and background to the competition can also be found on the Mansura Trophy website.
Sarah Black, Project Manager for environmental boat initiative the Green Blue, says: “This is relatively new technology and we need to give it every support we can to develop into the marine sector. We must all play our part in cutting emissions and this is an excellent way of achieving just that.”
The Mansura Trophy competition seeks to encourage and develop hybrid-electric craft, particularly, but not exclusively, offshore and to ensure widespread exposure for those who seek to develop new, ecologically attractive methods of water-borne travel. It is open to private or commercial vessels of any nationality, with an overall length not exceeding 122m (400 ft), powered by a hybrid or all-electric propulsion system deriving energy from more than one source. It is open to both corporate and individual entries, but military vessels are excluded.
