A lot’s happened in the last couple of weeks – another round of towing tank testing, sponsor meetings, new sponsors coming on board and even dinner with a trans-Atlantic rower!

On 15th and 16th Mark was back in Newcastle for hull refinement testing. We’d spent the previous few days preparing two models for the test, both with matching hull profiles but a variation in beam (the maximum width of the boat). The models were kindly machined once again by Concept Group International in Coventry in to tooling foam supplied by John Burn Ltd. After sanding and painting the models, Mark spent two days testing them at various yaw angles and speeds. The hull profile is one that Mark has designed following the results of the initial test from several weeks ago. The results were excellent – the difference in beam had very little effect due to our low speeds (meaning our boat doesn’t have to be uncomfortably slender to be efficient), and Mark’s new hull shape has half the hydrodynamic resistance of the existing trans-Atlantic rowing boat design. Thanks to all at Newcastle University for their continuing help and support with the tank testing.

The newly-refined hull shape on test

Resistance curves at zero yaw for new hull shape

On the Friday night, Mike attended the IMechE Midlands Dinner in Birmingham as a guest of the IMechE and managed to briefly meet with James Cracknell. A quick discussion about the design of the boat followed, and James is keen to have a proper sit-down at some point in the future. Exciting stuff, and our first real celebrity endorsement!

Then on the Sunday we packed up the car and headed down to Plymouth for more meetings. First up was another design review session with legendary boat designer Phil Morrison, who talked Mark through the fundamentals of boat stability analysis. Now that Mark has a hull shape defined, the next stage is to ensure the boat is stable and self-rights in the event of a capsize. From Phil’s, we found our hotel for the night and headed in to Plymouth to have dinner with Tim and Debra Searle, who kindly welcomed us in to their home. Tim is one of our composites specialists, and Debra famously rowed the Atlantic solo in 2001. Over drinks and an excellent curry we discussed what it’s really like to get yourself across the Atlantic, and Debra pointed out several aspects of living on a boat for at least 40 days that we hadn’t considered. We left with a lot of things to think about and work on, and two signed copies of her book. We’re hugely grateful to both Tim and Debra for their time and help, and we’re really looking forward to working further with Tim as we get in to the structural design of the boat.

On the Monday we travelled to Swansea to meet with Nicholas Price-Jones of Wheelies Direct Cycle Solutions, who are one of our next potential sponsors. I’ll save the details until everything’s agreed, but suffice to say Nicholas is one of the most enthusiastic people we’ve ever met and we’re grateful for his time and positivity.

The rest of the week was a little calmer, with both of us busy working on our day jobs and Mark working towards the final report for this final-year project. The highlight was a meeting with Graham Allen and Craig Prest from Henri Lloyd, in which we agreed an incredible sponsorship package. Not only are Henri Lloyd going to design and manufacture the interior of the boat using lightweight waterproof pockets, they’re also going to supply technical and foul-weather clothing, Torpedalo-branded formal clothes and even a four-piece range of Torpedalo merchandise! Watch this space, but at some point soon you’ll be able to buy Torpedalo shirts, jackets and hats! Other sponsor news in the last few days includes confirmation from Lewmar that they’ll supply all of the ocean hatches that we need for the boat, and Sharp Solar confirming that they’ll meet our solar panel needs. Details to come as they’re agreed!

And so to next week – Mark presses on with interior packaging and stability design, Mike continues to work with potential new sponsors, and on Thursday we head down to Bristol to fulfil a dream since childhood – we’re meeting Richard Noble!

Two other things to note – Andy Jackaman and Nick Rait have formally joined the Torpedalo team, responsible for the organisation and management of the Torpedalo launch evening in April next year. Welcome guys, and thanks for your help! The other thanks go to Bonnie Roodt at our media sponsor FP Creative, who is leaving the company and is on her way back home to South Africa after two years in the UK. Bonnie designed our Project Brochure, business cards and soon-to-be-released posters, and we’re eternally grateful for her help. All the best Bon!