From the 13th until the 15th of July the Antwerp Maritime Academy will be participating in the prestigious Monaco Solar Boat Challenge.

Since 2008 students and teachers from the Marine Engineering department of the Antwerp Maritime Academy (HZS) are working on the development of a solar boat. With the solar boat the HZS is participating in several races, such as the biennial Dutch Solar Challenge and the annual Monaco Solar Boat Challenge.

From the 13th until the 15th of July the Antwerp Maritime Academy joins in for the fourth time on the Monaco Solar Boat Challenge. This time the HZS is represented by Brecht Ketelers and Siemon Boits (students) and Willem Maes, Stefan Bueken, Marc Sterkens, Jos Noteboom and Filip Van  Gutte (teachers)

Brecht Ketelers is looking forward to the race. “The impressiveness of the location attracts me and the Monaco Solar Boat Challenge is also the perfect place for international networking. Racing at sea is not easy: a turbulent sea is a real challenge for solar boats, which are particularly designed for racing flat races on canals.”

“The trump cards of our solar boat are the limited weight (only 90 kilo) and the simplicity of the concept”, adds Willem Maes. “We will be the only monohull solar boat in Monaco, all other boats have floats. Keeping your balance with a monohull is difficult, but since we are nautical college, we do have expertise in stability!”