two teams of high school students pose with their prizes

Netherlands Solarboat Championships Results

June 2, 2019June 2, 2019 Jeff Butler 3337 Views 0 Comments Netherlands, Solar Sport One, The Gussies, Young Solar Challenge

The results are in from the seventh annual Netherlands Solar Boat NK (National Championships) held in Akkrum on a sunny and bright 1st of June.

Races were contested in four of the classes sanctioned by international authorizing organization Solar Sport One: A Class, Top Class and V20 Class. These classes include teams from universities and technical colleges, their alumni (for some teams) as well as commercial boats entered by energy and electric boat oriented companies such as Victron.

The weekend championships also includes the Young Solar Challenge in which high school students build and race solar boats as part of a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) program. The main photo above shows the happy teams from Solar Team Bogerman and Technasium Helen Parkhurst

Results for the Solar Sport One races:

A team of students holding a trophy and smiling — Sunflare Solar Team

A Class

Sunflare Solar Team
VHL Nordwin Solar Boat Team
Sinnergy Solar Team – ROC Friese Poort Drachten

Top Class

Clafis Victron Energy Solar Boat Team
Dutch Solar Boat Team
TU Delft Solar Boat Team

V20 Class

New Nexus Solar Racing Team
DB-20 Solar Boat Racing
DinamiCo Solar Team Drenthe College

The NK Championships are important not just for bragging rights, but also for testing the boats for upcoming Solar Sport Races in Purmerend June 21-22, Groningen June 28-29 and the most prestigious event on the solar boat racing calendar, the Monaco Solar and Energy Boat Challenge on the weekend of July 1, hosted by the Yacht Club de Monaco.

After the Monaco race, the TU Delft team will attempt their conquest of the English channel on solar power in their all new solar trimaran

Young Solar Challenge had 30 teams competing

The high school Young Solar challenge was perhaps the most hotly contested of the races. For this year’s event an amazing 30 boats took place with entries from all over the country.

a teacher instructs two students standing in front of a plywood boat they are constructing — Emerwerda Young Solar Team

Each of the teams builds an identical boat – the C5 Class – from a supplied plywood kit with instructions, then adds the solar panels, motor and necessary controls and steering mechanisms. They also attend a seminar and classes to understand the safety, electrical and mechanical aspects of their new creations.

There are two races held – an endurance race in which the boats try to complate as many 1.5km laps as possible around the Akkrum canal course, and a 350m sprint race. The endurance race also has a Le Mans start where a designated team member has to run a 1.5 km distance to the boat before it can leave the shore.

While this is the National Championships, the results from this race also contribute to overall scores for this year’s full season of races. The first took place May 11 in Harlinge and the next races after Akkrum take place in Heusden June 14 and Purmerund June 21.