|
Artist’s rendering of
the Solar Ferry in action. |
When I read this is when it
really struck home that maybe boats could use wings both as
solar collectors and use them to sail. If it seems fantastic,
consider that one hundred and twenty years ago industry depended
on sailing ships. For the last hundred and twenty years, we’ve
been using fossil fuel motors for industry but it is potentially
logical that we will exit this century with totally different
technology. Just as the clipper ship captains would have rolled
their eyes at the idea of today’s diesel-powered ships, I know
many are doubtful about the idea of ships sailing around on solar
and wind power. But wind and the sun represent two most abundant
forces on the ocean.
So right there on the plane I
started drawing pictures of a boat, putting wings on it, and doing
a rough calculations. I put the book on the seat in front of me on
the plane and then forgot to take it with me when I left the
plane. I came back and found the hostess and I tell her,
"Look, can I get my book back?" I went through a crazy
thing where I thought, "What if the guy cleaning the plane
picks up the book, takes a look, figures it out, then goes ahead
and patents it."
Well, that didn’t happen but
I did spend ten days on board a boat and while vacationing
convincing myself that what I was doing was absolutely valid. I
went to my wife after the holiday and said, "Look, this is
driving me nuts. I think I can win next year’s solar boat race
because I can build a better boat. Every doctor my age has a
hobby. What about if I spend a little bit of money, darling, and
see where this goes?"
She encouraged me so off I went
to a patent attorney. I had a partner who had just come into my
medical practice. Before too long, one day he walked and I said,
"How would you like to buy the whole practice? I want to go
and do this solar boat thing."
So I sold my practice and it
was in the local paper, that I was off to Sydney to work on a
solar boat project. This prompts a call from a lady named Marjorie
Kendall. I didn’t know Marjorie but her mother was a patient of
mine. Her name was Lilly, lived in a nursing home, and was a
ninety nine year old lady who’d sacked every doctor she’d had.
One day a nurse said, "We’ve got to have a doctor on the
book." So I go and say, "Hello." She snarls,
"You young doctors." She’s had mild heart failure,
emphysema. You name it, she’s got it. She wouldn’t take any
medication for any of them. But she was tough. I would pop in and
see here every now and then, more a social chat that I’d use as
an excuse to examine her.
Well, Lily’s daughter
Marjorie rings me and says, "I read that you’re doing this
thing with solar boats." I’m seventy six years old myself
and I love solar. I’m solarizing my dairy farm for my children.
You’ve got to come out and see my solar pump."
So I get out there and I
realize that the solar pump she had was moving and tracking the
sun. Also, it was exactly the same size as the wings that I
envisioned for the boat that I was planning to enter in April’s
race. I’m standing there and there was a pipe with water coming
out like a fire hose. It was unbelievable. I’m standing there
thinking, "This is going to work."
Marjorie says, "How are
you going to get started?" I explain it to her and she says,
"Well, where are you going to get the money?" I told
here that I was going to try to get some sponsorship. She said,
"No you’re not. You’re going to form a company and I’m
going to be your first shareholder. How much money do you
need?"
Next, I went around and saw my
surfboard guy and said, "Can we build wings that have solar
panels on them?" He said, "We can do anything. No
worries." Then I realized that that’s what he said to
everything. If you said, "Can we fly to the moon?", his
response would be, "We can do anything!" I guess I was
delusionally encouraged by this.
He had a friend who was working
in a pub pouring beer, a hobby train enthusiast, who would take a
photo of an old locomotive, make a mold, pour the soft metal and
make an unbelievable model just from a picture. Between all these
guys, we started work on the boat.
CONTINUE