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, among
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 Pearl is, 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 that Black Pearl would come
equipped with extensive solar capacity – even “solar sails.”She was delivered without any of this, but only because the
technology was lagging behind 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 Richard Tatlow, chief engineer. “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. A power management system is“WE’RE ALL HOPING TO GO OVER TO ST BARTHS AND KICK
SOME ASS. WE’RE GOING TO BLOW AWAY THE OTHER BIG
BOATS. WE CAN’T WAIT TO SAIL CIRCLES AROUND THEM”
PHOTOGRAPHY: TIMOTHY GARCIA/AERIALAESTHETICS