Oahu, Hawaii, United States
Aloha ! After 15 days of sailing, wind and swell, our crew arrived safely in port after an eventful first chapter of Energy Observer's very first transpacific.
Coming from: San Francisco, CA
Weather conditions: Cloudy
Time of arrival: 5:00 PM
Travelled distance: 2 243 nautical miles
Against winds and tides
Our laboratory ship arrived in the Hawaiian archipelago on May 29, after 15 days of sailing and 2,243 nautical miles! Our five crew members are exhausted but happy to see the lush mountains so characteristic of the Hawaiian coast.
The crossing was punctuated by technical problems, notably a black out at sea due to the disconnection of our batteries. The storm encountered off the coast of San Francisco also got the better of our 3 bifacial solar panels. The weather did not spare our crew either: after big swell and clouded sky, the sun only appeared a few days before the arrival. These conditions remind us of the importance of hydrogen to compensate for the intermittency of renewable energies, our tanks were almost empty at the end.
Hawaii, first stopover of the transpacific
The journey to Hawaii was one of the longest and fastest ever undertook by the vessel, with an average speed of 6.2 knots. This stopover is, thus, highly symbolic for the ship that undertook, only last year, its first open ocean crossing from Cape Verde to Martinique in March 2020. A journey of 2300 nautical miles across the Atlantic Ocean, a very first for maritime hydrogen mobility.
Kaneohe Bay, on Oahu Island, is the first stop for Energy Observer in Hawaii. The opportunity for the crew to discover this volcanic archipelago and its great potential for renewable energies, unfortunately only sparsely exploited today.
🇺🇸 INSPIRE | A warm welcoming committee 🌺
"Va'a - Polynesian pirogues", kayaks and other paddles - accompanied our crew as they arrived in Hawaii, sailing across the bay to Kaneohe on the island of Oahu.A typical distribution of flower necklaces marked the beginning of this first stop of Energy Observer in Hawaii, as the crew change is coming soon!
📷 @agathe_roullin
#Pacific #sailing #navigation #boat #stopovers #roundtheworld #renewable #energy #hydrogen
Hawaii, an archipelago full of resources
Located 6200 km from Japan and 3,850 km from the United States, the Hawaiian archipelago has a tropical climate with constant temperatures throughout the year thanks to the influence of the ocean. Sun, wind, swell, waves, the archipelago has a multitude of resources that are just waiting to be exploited since renewable energies only represent 33% of the energy mix.
As part of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, Hawaii launched the 'Sustainable Hawaii' movement in 2016. The Hawaiian archipelago has committed to achieving 100% clean, renewable energy for electricity by 2045.