Suntory Mermaid II
The Suntory Mermaid II is a 9.5 meter long and three tonne catamaran powered by wave power .
The boat was designed by Hiroshi Terao at Tōkai University , the drive consists of two fins located under the stern of the boat , which use an ingenious spring mechanism to control the energy of the boat , which moves up and down through waves, into a forward movement of the boat convert. With the Suntory Mermaid II, the converted energy is sufficient to accelerate it up to a maximum speed of 5 knots . The Suntory Mermaid II was built by Tsuneishi Shipyard (常 石 造船).
First ocean crossing in a boat powered solely by wave power
From March 18 to July 4, 2008, the Japanese Kenichi Horie crossed the Pacific from Hawaii to Japan with the Suntory Mermaid II driven only by wave power . On April 17th, in an interview via satellite telephone, Hori announced that he covered around 100 kilometers a day.
World record
On July 4th, 2008, the Suntory Mermaid II reached Japan without any breakdowns. Horie, 69, achieved the world record for the longest solo trip in a wave-powered boat, ie a drive with "green energy".