Fastest and greenest powerboat coming home

29th May 2009

Earthrace – fastest and greenest powerboat coming home with world record

Main Street, Huntly on Saturday 6th June Under Railway Bridge, Ngaruawahia on Sunday 7th June Riverside Reserve, Dominion Avenue, Cambridge on Tuesday 9th June Gate 7, Fieldays, Mystery Creek on Wednesday 10th – Friday 12th June Waipa Delta Pontoon, Hamilton on Saturday 13th – Sunday 14th June Open 10am – 6pm. Donations to Earthrace: Adults $5, Kids $2.50, Family $10.
An evening talk with Pete Bethune at Hamilton Boys High on Saturday 13th June at 7pm.

The amazing New Zealand built and skippered 100% biofuelled Earthrace powerboat smashed the previously British-held Round the World Speed Record by almost two weeks in June 2008. Now, she’s arrived home in New Zealand and will be journeying up the Waikato River where she will be open to the public, and the crew will be on hand to talk about the adventures and challenges they’ve faced along the way.

Pete Bethune, skipper and founder of Earthrace, is determined to get the boat to his home town, Hamilton, despite local advice warning the river is too shallow. Cambridge is the furthest point Earthrace will venture up the Waikato on her final voyage around New Zealand. Track Earthrace’s progress around the sand banks and through the Narrows on www.earthrace.net.

It has been almost three years since she left New Zealand, and her crew have had a rollercoaster ride of adventures and challenges since then. This is reflected in the boat itself, which these days resembles more a battle scarred warrior than a princess. Bullet holes, gouges from logs, and damage from an accident of the Guatemalan coast have all left their mark on this amazing, storm-hardened vessel.

More than 180,000 people have walked onto to her decks during her world tour, and the story of her volunteer crew and their journey to promote renewable fuels and sustainable living has been seen by millions on TV networks, and in newspapers and magazines around the globe. The boat broke the ten year old world circumnavigation record using only biofuel from sustainable sources as a way of drawing attention to, and fuelling debate about, renewable fuels.

Earthrace broke the previous record, held by British boat, Cable and Wireless Adventurer, by almost two weeks when she crossed the finish line in Spain at 12.24GMTon 27th June this year. The team took just 60 days 23 hours and 49 minutes to complete the world’s longest speed challenge of almost 24,000 nautical miles.

The boat and her crew had to overcome many obstacles including huge storms, replacing a propeller in Singapore, losing an engine in the middle of the ocean, fuel leakages, a huge backlog of traffic in the Panama Canal and a depressing journey through an offshore rubbish dump in the North Pacific.

Earthrace is thankful to Hamilton City Council, Waipa District Council, Waikato District Council and Environment Waikato for their help and support.

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