low centre of effort from such a low-aspect sail was attractive in extreme winds. Was there a way to make a modern-day square rigger that was strong enough to deal with full submersion and ‘tumbling’ in 10m waves? I set about sketching ideas, and quickly had a concept that we wind tunnel tested to verify the basic lift and drag characteristics. It looked do-able so we set about making it and, crucially, making it strong enough. The carbon scraps bin was emptied and belt-and- braces logic applied to every component. With a flat aft-face and a curved front face, the sail (or wing), even when locked perpen- dicular to the boat can deliver a forward driving force on a beam reach. This gave us a navigational arc of about 180° through the downwind sector. Not enough to get you around a windward-leeward course, but could it get us around Antarctica? Combining this sail design with our now super-rugged electronics, actuators and scientific sensor suite, we released SD1020, from Bluff, New Zealand in January 2019.
However, behind this fun circumnaviga- tion attempt there were some very serious science questions to be answered, specifi- cally about the heat and carbon uptake of our oceans. On the vehicle was a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration- designed MapCO2 system, which mea-
sures both dissolved and atmospheric CO2 incredibly precisely, to a resolution of just 1-2ppm (parts per million).
One of our largest ‘blind spots’ in terms
data onboard. The voyage saw freezing temperatures, 70kt winds, 12m waves and several collisions with large icebergs. However, apart from a few impacts to the wing from the icebergs, the vehicle was remarkably unscathed.
The latest voyage of the Saildrone 1021. Completed at an average speed of a little over 3kt, a trip originally prompted by a desire to try to circumnavigate Antarctica delivered a plethora of science on the way
of our climate knowledge, and its future prediction, lies in the Southern Ocean. This is mostly due to the serious lack of observations, particularly in winter, due to the very remote and harsh environment. The Southern Ocean takes up about half of all carbon and 75 per cent of all heat that enter our oceans, but very little is understood due to the chronic under- sampling in the region. Could the Sail- drone, if able to survive in these condi- tions, help increase the understanding of this area, and subsequently of our climate? So, 196 days after leaving New Zealand, SD1020 returned to the same port after successfully circumnavigating Antarctica, and with a treasure trove of
It will take scientists some time to fully digest the huge dataset collected, but early analysis shows that Saildrone recorded the Southern Ocean releasing significant carbon dioxide into the atmosphere during the winter months – a remarkable event never previously measured which obvi- ously presents major implications for global climate models.
Today all we can currently say with confidence is that this inhospitable region needs significantly more measurements to enable meaningful insights into our planet’s high carbon future. Next year we hope to deploy a fleet of 10 Saildrones in the Southern Ocean to consistently circle Antarctica, to do exactly that.
While we did cross all lines of longitude and covered nearly 15,000nm, this was not a formal ‘global’ circumnavigation. A true circumnavigation needs to pass two antipodes, a feat that would mean crossing the Equator, twice. Is it possible to design a wing that is capable of sailing to windward in the light winds of the Equator yet also surviving the Southern Ocean? Let’s just say we have some ideas and will certainly endeavour to prove it is possible… before the 500th anniversary of the voyage of the Victoria in 2022, of course. Richard Jenkins, San Francisco
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