Jimmy Cornell abandons “zero emissions” Elcano Challenge

[dunedin]

Not seen this reported on here yet, but Jimmy Cornell has been forced to abandon his Elcano Challenge at the Canaries, and is now returning to base https://cornellsailing.com/2020/12/electric-shock/

He was seeking to commemorate the 500th anniversary of Magellan’s first ever round the world voyage.
He had chosen to attempt to do this in a “zero carbon emissions“ (en route - plenty in construction!) high tech new customised Outremer 45e catamaran. This had twin sail drives designed to give both electric propulsion and hydro- generation, along with solar power.
They were even seeking to use electric for all domestic needs, including “induction hob, microwave and twin feeezers”.

Unfortunately they have discovered that the power generation is way too low for the power consumption - including that very high domestic load - and had to abort.

Huge shame. As he says, the boat builder recommended having a backup generator (effectively turning into a hybrid) but purist Jimmy declined to do so.

I wonder if the voyage could have been saved by a couple of Camping Gas cylinders for cooking? And/or a hydrogen fuel cell perhaps?
As he admits, his ambition was bit too far ahead of the technology (which is improving fast).

 

[DownWest]

Does sound like a lack of doing one's sums.
While I applaud efforts to reduce emissions, this does sound like publicity stunt. A real atribute to Maggelan would be sail only and no modern nav aids.
I looked over the replicas of Columbas's ships down by Huelva. Pretty primative and no cabins. Small for the number of crew and expectations of surviving the trip not high ( on a par with life then) But if you did, fame. (and I presume, fortune)

Just read the blog.. Lot of wishfull thinking, not based on real results.

 

[laika]

I wonder if the voyage could have been saved by a couple of Camping Gas cylinders for cooking?

Not having oodles of power generation an induction hob hasn't been something I've looked into but gosh they do seem to suck power which might explain why Mr. Cornell doesn't reckon he can make do with "only" 500-odd watts generation. I do see the argument that burning gas doesn't make the trip "zero emissions" though.

 

[Wansworth]

As he didn’t know where he was going,wherever he arrived was there...........he was Galician,sorry for detours

 

[lustyd]

Agree the hob and expectations must have scuppered it. Uma seems to manage fine and they have all sorts of toys on board. The difference is they don't seem to have a schedule to keep. I am curious how they're managing to stay charged up in the Norway winter though! Assume it's sitting still for a week to recharge while enjoying the copious free firewood available and the local beers!

 

[Kelpie]

I think the advantages of induction cooking are too great to ignore, so I plan to install about the minimum system that will let me cook with electricity when the conditions allow. But I will not be ripping out the gas system! It would be a completely different matter to go all-electric with no backup.
It's good that people are trying to move away from burning fossil fuels, it just doesn't have to be an all-or-nothing thing.

 

[lustyd]

Also worth noting that not all gas is a fossil fuel and not all electricity is generated cleanly. If you charge from a diesel it's probably not better than burning something renewable. Methane from landfill, organic stuff in forests and food waste, for instance, is pretty renewable and terrible for the planet if released. I read a paper a while ago which suggested that planting more trees could be more harmful than the status quo since although they remove CO2 the produce waste which creates methane which is worse than CO2. It's a tricky subject

 

[Sandy]

He was seeking to commemorate the 500th anniversary of Magellan’s first ever round the world voyage.

Magellan had none of those problems, I wonder what they cooked with?

 

[De.windhoos]

yeah I read the story and was a bit surprised. I mean he's been around the block world a couple of times. He knows all about redundancy. Why not more solar, why not 2 wind generators and 2 additional Watt&Sea hydro generators? I mean it's a Cat, plenty of space to add all that stuff.

 

[Hadenough]

I have a mate who has converted his ( motor) boat to all electric, cooker, microwave???? , kettle, toaster, mainly because his partner has a morbid fear of gas rather than environmental morals. So she now sits on a boat full of lithium batteries on charge because she is frightened of a gas explosion ??? Oh, BTW they last a day away from shore power before having to run the Genset every 4 hours? I am completely open to change but for the moment, for cruising I will stick to gas.

 

[Tradewinds]

Agree the hob and expectations must have scuppered it. Uma seems to manage fine and they have all sorts of toys on board. The difference is they don't seem to have a schedule to keep. I am curious how they're managing to stay charged up in the Norway winter though! Assume it's sitting still for a week to recharge while enjoying the copious free firewood available and the local beers!

I'm still trying to work out how they've been able to stay in Norway for so long, which I thought was limited to 90 days (I realise we are in YouTube time but I think they're still there).

Not a get at - genuinely interested as the place looks fantastic and I'm rather jealous.

 

[zoidberg]

Interesting what he considers 'Spartan lifestyle'....

it failed to keep up with the overall consumption on a proper voyage, not during a test in calm waters. The consumption included both the autopilot and instruments, and also domestic demands such as induction cooker, microwave oven, two fridges, etc.

Romain Guiraudou of the Outremer design office..... suggested that we cut down our electricity consumption to the absolute minimum, which we did. Over the next few days our Spartan lifestyle did help us keep enough power in the battery banks

It seems clear, and accepted by Jimmy Cornell, that the current state of materials science and eng-production is not yet where he and we would like it to be. While fossil-fuel free aids in our sailboats is presently not within reach, perhaps we should simply accept for the present that 'hybrids' are the way to go for now.

I'm also curious about the mindset that considers the luxuries listed are other than 'luxury' devices. I/we don't have all those devices available at home - on normal mains 'lecky and gas - so the question arises 'What flavour of snowflakes had Jimmy Cornell harnessed himself to?'

 

[Kelpie]

Interesting what he considers 'Spartan lifestyle'....



It seems clear, and accepted by Jimmy Cornell, that the current state of materials science and eng-production is not yet where he and we would like it to be. While fossil-fuel free aids in our sailboats is presently not within reach, perhaps we should simply accept for the present that 'hybrids' are the way to go for now.

I'm also curious about the mindset that considers the luxuries listed are other than 'luxury' devices. I/we don't have all those devices available at home - on normal mains 'lecky and gas - so the question arises 'What flavour of snowflakes had Jimmy Cornell harnessed himself to?'

My reasons for going partially electric are not primarily environmental, although that is nice. It's mostly about increasing our self-sufficiency. Of course you could buy an awful lot of gas for the cost of an electric galley conversion* but then you could make the same argument about sails and rigging, and buy a motorboat.

Secondly, I expect induction cooking to be much more versatile and easier to live with when we are cruising in hot climates. Much less heat given out into the cabin, and you could even run an extension lead and do your cooking in the cockpit.

Thirdly, the availability of a large inverter opens up a lot of possibilities to make life a bit more civilised, e.g. a proper hoover and a laser printer. When you plan to give up your house and live aboard, why not have these 'luxuries'if you can?

* by my back-of-envelope calculations, I expect the additional cost of electrifying our galley to be the equivalent of about 42 weeks worth of propane. But it's not about saving money.

 

[wully1]

I’ve recently fitted an induction hob in my house and love it - as good as / possibly better- than gas. No idea how much power it uses but on max I’m guessing a lot..

No way would I try to install on boatie but who knows what the future will bring? Like cars, if was the same price and ease of use as hydrocarbons I’d buy tomorrow but it’s got a long way to go before it is.

 

[lustyd]

I'm still trying to work out how they've been able to stay in Norway for so long, which I thought was limited to 90 days (I realise we are in YouTube time but I think they're still there).

Not a get at - genuinely interested as the place looks fantastic and I'm rather jealous.

By my estimate they’re about 5 weeks in for Norway, but there’s no reason they couldn’t have arranged a longer stay. They certainly discussed that for the Schengen area a while ago in the Lanzarote episode so I guess that’s what we’re seeing here

 

[lustyd]

Actually ignore that! Their Schengen 90 days would have ended month’s ago probably January so this is clearly them using country specific visas as we’ll have to following Brexit.

 

[RupertW]

We bought a single ring induction hob from IKEA last year for I think £40 and it’s brilliant on the boat. It fits perfectly on the standard gimballed 2 ring gas cooker and means our gas lasts a lot longer as we never use gas when at a marina anymore.

Although I heat water in the immersion heater from solar the sums do not work out for also having the induction hob at anchor.

 

[Stemar]

If you want a green, renewable way of cooking, an alcohol stove seems to me to be the way to go - make the alcohol from fermenting vegetable matter, which could easily be waste.

Must say, I do like our induction hob at home. All the advantages of gas, but wipe up spills and splashes with a rag instead of chipping off burnt-on carbon. Just unconvinced of their benefits on a boat unless it's a decent sized mobo or you're running a genny

 

[ryanroberts]

I bought a ninja foodie for boat cooking purposes, very compact combo pressure cooker / air fryer / oven / slow cooker. Maxes out at 1400W which might be semi viable in midsummer, but it's mostly for cooking on the dock. Great little machine

 

[RupertW]

If you want a green, renewable way of cooking, an alcohol stove seems to me to be the way to go - make the alcohol from fermenting vegetable matter, which could easily be waste.

Must say, I do like our induction hob at home. All the advantages of gas, but wipe up spills and splashes with a rag instead of chipping off burnt-on carbon. Just unconvinced of their benefits on a boat unless it's a decent sized mobo or you're running a genny

They are great when connected to shore power and save on gas - especially if you are in places where it can take a week to get a gas cylinder to be refilled.