Press release from Earthrace, the extraordinary power trimaran built in New Zealand to set a speed record for a circumnavigation of the world: Under Way! Auckland, New Zealand--Last week the Earthrace boat and her crew began its sea trials in the Waitemata Harbour in Auckland after two years in concept and one year of building. It was an extremely pensive moment for all the crew as the Cummins engines were fired up for the first time, and the boat was powered under her own steam out into the Harbour and beyond. The boat has already attracted enormous interest from other (somewhat surprised) boaties in Auckland Harbour and local and international media, with a film crew from the Discovery Channel spending the past two days with the boat. Only minor faults have been found as a result of the testing so far which is extremely encouraging and will mean very few modifications will need to be made to the boat before she will be open-ocean ready. "You've got to expect a few things to go wrong when you launch a new boat We're really lucky in that so far we've only had a couple of minor hitches. The boat's about exactly where we expected it to be, it's performing great!"- Pete Bethune, Earthrace skipper. The crew is hoping for a storm to come through in the next week so the boat can be put to the test in its true elements. The Earthrace crew is extremely proud to have the boat up and running and nearly ready to begin our global mission. This will begin late next week with the crew taking the boat around the Coromandel Peninsula over the Easter period with stops in Whitianga, Tairua/Pauanui, Whangamata, Mt Maunganui and Tauranga. More about Earthrace The Earthrace is an attempt to set the world record for circumnavigating of the globe. The boat is to be fuelled with 100% biodiesel, a fuel made from renewable sources such as canola and rape. The current 75-day record is held by British boat Cable and Wireless in 1998, Earthrace aims to complete the race in less than 65 days. It is also the first time in history an official UIM Powerboat record will be attempted using renewable fuel. The boat has a unique wave piercing hull that allows the boat to pierce through the water rather than riding over the top. Wave piercing technology was originally formulated for passenger ferry applications, and more recently it has been applied to military craft. Wave piercing is a key element in getting the record for circumnavigating the globe as it allows the boat to run continuously at high speed in both flat and rough sea conditions. The boat will tour New Zealand from mid April through June. http://www.earthrace.net/view.asp http://www.cld.co.nz/welcome.htm http://www.solarnavigator.net/history/cable_and_wireless.htm