For the first time since its inception, more than 250 students representing 28 renowned engineering schools from 13 countries, working in 23 teams, left the shores of Lake Geneva in Switzerland for the port of Saint-Tropez. This was done with the help of Société? Nautique de Saint-Tropez (S.N.S.T.).
Once again this year, France - the nation with the most titles since the creation of the competition in 2013 - is the most represented nation with 9 schools involved: Centrale Supelec, Ecole Centrale de Nantes, Université? Le Havre Normandie, ENSM Marseille, Ecole Polytechnique & ENSTA, SeaTech Toulon, Université? de Montpellier, ESTIA Bidart and ENS Mines de Paris.
Creating boats to meet the climate challenge
To enable the younger generation to react to climate change, the Hydros Foundation decided to create the first eco-responsible student competition dedicated to maritime energy efficiency.
To do this, the comité? organization decided to equip each team with the same electric motor and a grant to encourage innovation. The quantité? of available energy is required to cover a certain distance and the ranking is established according to the time taken to cover the distance.
Two queen tests of the competition
For 10 months, each team prepared to design two prototypes meeting the organization's specifications. Each team competed against each other on a dedicated course in the following two categories:
- Mass transport", which simulates the movement of a cargo ship with 200kg of ballast on board.
- The "personal boats" which prefigure the transport of people on a pleasure boat with only 20kg of ballast on board.
In total, the student teams will attempt to win one of the 8 coveted awards in the 1st student competition dedicated to water energy efficiency.
Prestigious winners to beat
In 2016, three of them - two teams from France and Switzerland - won the famous Trophy. The Ecole Centrale de Nantes in the "Personal Boats" category, ENSTA Bretagne - Paris La Villette in the "Mass Transport" category and the Haute Ecole d'Ingénierie et d'Architecture (HEIA) de Fribourg in the "Long Distance Race" category.
We'll have to wait until 10 September, the end of the competition, to find out the new winners of the event, which will take place under the watchful eye of Roland Jourdain, the emeritus skipper and creator of Kairos.
