“BLACK PEARLIS, IN MANY WAYS, MY ATTEMPT TO
SHOW THE WORLD THAT WE DO NOT HAVE TO
CONTINUE CONSUMING FINITE RESOURCES, THAT
WE CAN CHANGE AND IMPROVE THE IMPACT
WE HAVE ON OUR NATURAL WORLD”
hotel load ofBlack Pearl, and even feed charge into the considerable
battery bank. It was true zero-emission cruising, which on a boat of
Black Pearl’s size and scope is unheard of.
“When we were sailing along at 18 to 20 knots and the boat was
regenerating with all the main engines and generators switched of,
that was a big moment for all of us. We couldn’t believe it,” says
Gartner. “Derek was looking at the house load and then said, ‘you
know we’re generating enough power at the moment to cover our
own power. We’re not using any fossil fuels.’ That was a great
moment, amongst many others.”
The drive to build a ship with “zero impact” as a central
philosophy came direct from the owner. “We live in a world of finite
resources, yet it seems we have created a culture that is dependent
on consuming those resources, and a culture that cares little for the
natural world we all have to live in,” he says. “Black Pearlis, in many
ways, my attempt to show the world that we do not have to continue
consuming those resources, that we can change and improve the
impact we have on our natural world.”
The ultimate goal is to have the yacht generating its own power
at rest as well as under sail. There was much speculation during her
build thatBlack Pearlwould come equipped with extensive solar
capacity – even “solar sails”. She was delivered without any of this,
but only because the technology was lagging the intention.
“The client had me running all over the place for solar panels,”
says Munro. “The technology is kind of there [for solar sails]. We
could do it in the next five weeks, but we know for a fact that there
are a couple of people developing new stuf that will be just that little
bit better and the client obviously wants the latest he can get, so
we’re literally just waiting for that.”
The crew have been thoroughly infected by the owner’s
ambition. “There’s a couple of us on board who would like to have
solar panels on all the flat surfaces of the yacht as well,” says chief
engineer Richard Tatlow. “When you stand at anchor and the sun’s
shining, you can be charging and consuming just from the energy
of the flat [solar] cells.”
When and if it does eventually become necessary to flick on the
generators, all exhaust is scrubbed by ceramic filters developed by
Hug Engineering, meaning no harmful particulates are expelled.PHOTOGRAPHY: TIMOTHY GARCIA/AERIALAESTHETICS