It is a facet of ocean racing that we know little about. Every day, the skippers of the Vendée Globe, the Route du Rhum or the Transat Jacques-Vabre are forced to activate the small engine of their sailboat. The reason ? The necessary recharging of the batteries of the electronic devices that are on board their boat: the main beam headlights, the on-board computer but above all the automatic pilot, often activated during solo crossings. “On my Imoca, that represented one hour of engine per day on average. That is about three liters of diesel per day, ”says Marc Guillemot.
The 62-year-old sailor from Finistère knows a lot about the issue. Committed to ocean racing for over thirty years, Marc Guillemot is preparing for the next Route du Rhum aboard an eco-responsible multihull from the recovery of several boats. To design his “MG5”, Marc Guillemot recycled Jean Le Cam’s old mast, Damien Seguin’s daggerboards and a net that had been used on the maxi-trimarans Gitana and Spindrift. But the most ambitious innovation will be in the airfoil. On the 80 m² of his mainsail, Marc Guillemot will display around 30 m² of organic photovoltaic films. These “OPV” for “Organic PhotoVoltaic” will have the task of transforming sunlight into electrical energy in order to power the boat. “We are extremely busy with this project. So much so that we wonder why no one else is doing it ”.
“Light does not cost anything, neither to men, nor to the planet”
Light specialist, Jean-Marc Kubler is one of the founders of the start-up Heole. Based in Vannes, the small company is currently present at CES Las Vegas to present its technology that it hopes will be revolutionary. “The use of OPVs makes it a fully recyclable sustainable energy that does not produce waste. As for the light, it costs nothing, neither to men, nor to the planet ”, slips the CEO. Before recalling the ecological cost of the silicon necessary for the manufacture of traditional solar panels. “OPVs last 25 years and we know that their ecological cost is amortized in three months. Our technology works, it is validated. Now we need to check its yields. And that we can see how the sails resist water packets, salt, wind ”. In Nevada, Heole executives hope to convince investors to follow them and raise the million and a half euros needed to launch the prototypes.
Before producing its solar sails on a large scale, Heole will have to test them. The company will embark them on Marc Guillemot’s multihull for the next Route du Rhum, which will leave Saint-Malo on November 6, 2022 for a still strong transatlantic race. Foldable, the cells will equip a third of the mainsail, weighing down the boat slightly. “The objective is not to turn on the engine after leaving the port of Saint-Malo,” says Marc Guillemot, who is part of Heole’s board of directors. During his last transatlantic in Imoca, the skipper had consumed less than 40 liters of diesel to cover more than 7,000 kilometers.
A modest gain that convinced the start-up not to focus on ocean racing alone. OPVs should soon equip an airship for a crossing of the Mediterranean scheduled for 2023. The primary objective remains, however, to focus on the yachting sector, whose sales have been growing steadily for years. A phenomenon that has accelerated with the pandemic. “All the manufacturers compete to offer comfort on board their boats. There are freezers, air conditioning, TV screens. All of this equipment, I’m not sure it’s very useful. To supply them, some cruising yachts run their engines almost constantly, ”says navigator Marc Guillemot. The image of the boat being pushed by the force of the wind alone takes a hit. The customers are obviously not ready to do without them, it will be necessary to find more virtuous means to charge them.