The Microtransat Challenge
The Microtransat Challenge is a competition to design and build an autonomous sailboat under 4 meters in length, which is capable of crossing the Atlantic Ocean without human interaction.
The challenge was originally conceived in 2005 by Dr Mark Neal of Aberystwyth University and Dr Yves Briere of ISAE. The first attempt was made on September 11th 2010 by Pinta from Aberystwyth University.
The challenge requires entry's to take use one of two predefined sets of end points. The first is to sail between a start line off the coast of Great Britain and a finish between the Bahamas and Florida, whilst the second is from a start line off the east coast of North America and a finish line west cost of Ireland.
The competition rules specify that boats should report their position to competition organisers at least once every 6 hours.
Current competing teams
- http://www.team-joker.com/ - competing team for the 2013 Transatlantic Race.
- https://sites.google.com/site/hiveda2012/ - Norwegian College team for the 2013 Transatlantic Race.
- http://qmast.ca/
- http://www.sailingrobots.ax/ - Åland University of Applied Sciences
- http://www.microtransat.si/ - University of Ljubljana, Slovenia
External resources
- http://www.microtransat.org/2013.php - main page for the 2013 challenge.
- http://www.microtransat.org/faq.php
- http://www.gpss.force9.co.uk/autop.htm - experiences of a 2012 Transatlantic Race contestant.
- http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2239867/Robin-Lovelocks-boat-Snoopy-Snoop-crashes-just-SIX-miles-start-journey-Atlantic.html