While researchers and industry professionals debated technologies that will shape yachting’s future, students were putting them to the test on the sea in real-world conditions. On Thursday, Monaco’s bay was the stage for all the sports action at the 13th Monaco Energy Boat Challenge. Organised by Yacht Club de Monaco, this year has 54 teams from 21 nations taking part, to 11 July, all united by one goal: to design, build and drive boats capable of accelerating the maritime sector’s energy transition.
Divided into the Energy Class, AI Class, SeaLab Class and Open Sea Xperience, contestants took turns throughout the day on different courses that tested speed, precision, manoeuvrability and endurance. Every second gained represents months of research focused on optimising propulsion systems, improving energy efficiency, reducing overall structural weight and developing navigation algorithms.
A long-standing category of the Challenge, the Energy Class kicked off the day’s action with qualifying rounds. The Croatian Adria Racing Team posted the fastest time, completing the course in 48.107 seconds, ahead of the Italian teams University of Bologna Argonauts Team (51.149 seconds) and PHYSIS – Polimi Energy Boat (51.441 seconds). The minimal gaps show just how competitive the Italian universities are at this edition, securing four of the top five spots. These first round times are only a snapshot of a contest that is expected to ramp up speeds tomorrow.
In the AI Class boats operate without a pilot. Onboard systems must recognise their surroundings, follow a preset course and execute manoeuvres with fully autonomous precision. The Croatian Adria Autonomous Boat Team dominated the first day by winning both the Docking Race, with a time of 39.27 seconds ahead of TGM – Solar Boat Team (Austria) and UGent Sailing (Belgium), before clinching the best time of 1 minute 21.89 seconds in the Sprint Race. This category is one of the Challenge’s major evolutions and is already established as a genuine testing ground for AI as used in maritime applications.
The SeaLab Class follows a different approach. Teams in this category are developing demonstrators of emerging technologies to trial them here before the industry takes them on.
The manoeuvrability trial was won by Italian team Red Wave, ahead of the Swiss Solar Boat Team and the TU Delft Hydro Motion Team. As for the Dutch SURGE Methanol Foiling Team project, the first methanol-powered boat ever to compete at the Monaco Energy Boat Challenge as it continues its real-world testing programme, they finished 5th.
Finally, the speed record event for all eligible categories, over a one-kilometre course (two 500m runs), saw a new Monaco Energy Boat Challenge record set by Frauscher x Porsche – 790 Spectre with an average speed of 51.05 knots. It beat the previous record of 49.84 knots, also held by Frauscher x Porsche. In second place with a 45.33 knot average was XNRG.tech – XNRG8.3 with Taiga Orca P2 completing a podium made up of boats in the Open Sea Xperience category. In the student Energy Class, the Adria Racing Team posted the best result with an average speed of 26.90 knots to round off their excellent start to the competition.
The first qualifiers have begun to establish rankings without revealing the final winners. Contests continue on Friday with new courses set while teams keep fine-tuning their machines between sea outings.
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