Powered by the Sun

Perched over two hulls, the silicon plates capture the light of the sun. It is this light that will provide the power the Poraquê needs to face up to seven miles into the sea, on the Bardot Waterfront, a postcard location in Búzios, Rio de Janeiro. Poraquê is the name of the Leviathan team’s boat and refers to an electric fish that is common in the Amazon Basin. The vessel’s christening was the way the young students from the Nautical Engineering course in the Amazonas State University (UEA) chose to highlight their roots. For the second time, the class travelled over four thousand kilometres to take part in the Brazil Solar Challenge, a competition for solar-powered boats which takes place annually in the town that charmed French actress Brigitte Bardot.

Like Poraquê, another 20 vessels adorned the Búzios seafront over four days of competition this year. Twice the number of boats that took part in the first edition of the event, which took place in 2009 in Paraty, also in Rio de Janeiro. The idea to organise the Brazil Solar Challenge followed the participation in June 2008 of a team from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) in the Frisian Solar Challenge, a competition that happens every two years in the Netherlands. On that occasion, the Copacabana, a vessel designed and built by the Brazilian students, completed the six races in fourth place in Class A and in seventh in the overall rankings, which featured 48 European teams. The good performance by the Brazilian squad earned them an incentive award from the Dutch. Back in Brazil, professor and team coordinator Fernando Amorim decided to create a national edition of the event.

An UFRJ student at the time, Ricardo Bogea embraced the initiative. In that first Solar Challenge he worked in the operational support to the vessels. Three years later, following professor Fernando Amorim’s death, he took over the project, which he still leads.