Monaco's connection to motor racing and boating is clear all over the place, from the hairpin bends of the Formula 1 race track to the five-deck superyachts moored in Port Hercule.
Less obvious, nonetheless, is the town’s desire to turn out to be often known as a sustainable travel destination.
Monaco's “Green is the New Glam” campaign was launched in 2018 and highlighted most of the country's environmental efforts. And a campaign for 2023 Tourism campaign named sustainability – alongside “Instagrammability” and the attractiveness of being a digital nomad – as one in every of the three most significant pillars for attracting latest travelers.
Its green goals conflict with its greenhouse gas-emitting superyachts and popular Formula 1 racing. Carbon footprint amounted to greater than 223,000 tons of carbon dioxide within the 2022 season, in accordance with a Formula 1 report. However, they’re in keeping with a brand new E1 boat competition by which 100% electric speedboats compete.
Monaco is one in every of six host cities for the competition, which began in Saudi Arabia in February.
During the race in Monaco on July 28, Bernard d'Alessandri, Secretary General and Managing Director of the Yacht Club de Monaco, said that E1 was demonstrating a brand new technology for boat racing.
“Before E1, it was impossible to race electric boats,” he said. “E1 has proven that it is possible.”
Like a high-tech hummingbird
Nine teams, piloted by a person and a lady as co-pilots, compete in Racebirds, all-electric speedboats built specifically for E1. Resembling a high-tech hummingbird, they’ve small wings, head and body accentuated by an elongated nose and sleek metallic exterior.
According to race organizers, Racebird is an authorized zero-emissions boat that releases no oil or fuel into the water and makes half the noise and creates less waves than typical powerboats — all of which may cause problems with marine life.
Race organizers also use robotic, anchorless buoys to mark the routes, which, unlike anchors, don’t damage the seabed, says Rodi Basso, CEO and co-founder of E1 and a former Formula 1 engineer.
Since the primary race, organizers have steadily reduced the time and variety of shipping containers needed to host the races. Now they’re working to construct boats near the race courses quite than moving the boats around for every competition, organizers said.
Basso said the race had already attracted the eye of key “interest groups” within the country, including Prince Albert II of Monaco.
“They saw that we were serious about the values we wanted to build,” he said. “They care about the future of yachting.”
Acceptance of electrical boating among the many elite
Racebird creator Sophi Horne said it was hard to draw the eye of the Monegasque boating elite.
She said only a few people believed within the Racebird through the design phase. But the race modified that, she said, recalling a recent meeting in Monaco with a megayacht designer she has long admired.
“Sitting in his office with his naval architects and going through the Racebird concept in detail and sparking a different way of thinking – that was huge for me,” said Horne.
Horne is founder and chairman of one other company, Seabird, that focuses on the design and construction of electrical boats. She said she is now taking orders from local boat enthusiasts fascinated about electric boats.
“They see how cool it is and they want something their buddies don't have,” she said. “The Racebird is so different from anything they've seen before… they want to know if we can build its little sister, but something that fits the whole family.”
The celebrity factor
E1's celebrity factor can be attracting attention – a deliberate move in a race featuring boats that reach a top speed of 58 miles per hour, slower than Formula 1's H2O speedboats, which may travel nearly 150 miles per hour.
The nine team owners – actor Will Smith, tennis player Rafael Nadal, singer Marc Anthony, NFL player Tom Brady, soccer star Didier Drogba, cricketer Virat Kohli, Formula One driver Sergio Perez, DJ/record producer Steve Aoki and billionaire Marcelo Claure – are central figures within the races and their names and faces appear on the teams' marketing materials.
Brady and Drogba were spotted embracing within the VIP lounge in Monaco after Brady's team topped the leaderboard after the fourth race of the season.
But team owners are being asked to do greater than just cheer on their boats. E1 is asking each of them to take an energetic role in marine conservation. E1 will crown the winner not only of the championship itself, but in addition of its Blue Impact conservation program. Team Nadal is working to guard the endangered seagrass meadows within the Mediterranean Sea that surrounds his home island of Mallorca and likewise Monaco.
The celebrity factor also raises public awareness of conservation, says Professor Carlos Duarte, climate researcher and chief scientist at E1.
“When people like Tom Brady talk about standing up for ocean protection, it has a huge impact on public engagement,” he said. “Then we can talk about solutions, we can talk about new technologies, we can talk about what the communities are doing in the cities where we race.”
The remaining two races of the E1 series will happen on Lake Como in Italy on August 23, followed by Hong Kong on November 10.
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