On 17th of January , students from Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) and Rotterdam Mainport Institute (RMI) competed again in the annual competition. In the Shallow Water Basin of MARIN was determined who designed and built the fastest sailing cargo ship in the Netherlands.

The students of TU Delft and RMI all follow the minor course Sailing Yachts and must design and build a model sailing ship. The theoretical foundation is made in the first quarter of the academic year; in the second quarter students must work in teams to put the theory into practice. This is done during the annual Design and Sailing contest at MARIN. The sailing yacht models will be assessed on speed, turn speed and innovation. The students must use their knowledge and creativity to make a theoretical design into a fast sailing model.

The 2020 edition focused on ‘sailing cargo shipping’. Wind propulsion as a way to reduce emissions from shipping gets a lot of attention within the maritime sector. The participants are challenged to transport as much cargo as possible, as quickly as possible. In addition to the maximum dimensions, the design requirements state that only wind propulsion applies.

The model ships were assessed for speed, turning speed and innovation, whereby two courses had to be completed. The participants had to show that their designs could not only sail fast in a straight line, but were also able to round buoys at speed. ‘Every year the rules are changed to make copying of previous years impossible. This time the teams had to design a hull within maximum dimensions for length, width, and height. The teams could choose to carry a payload of between 0 and 6 kilogrammes. The challenge was to find out if the time correction outweighed the greater resistance incurred by the higher weight’, says Rogier Eggers, jury chairman and Project Manager at MARIN.