After sailing solo around the world multiple times in the past, Dutch Mark Slats found himself looking for a new challenge. At the start of 2017, he set a new goal: rowing solo across the Atlantic Ocean, participating in the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge.

A trip spanning more than 5000 km, with Mark, relied on only his muscle power to reach the other end of the ocean, rowing an average of 16 hours a day. And: proudly sponsored by SUNBEAMsystem solar panels to power his equipment!

Mark Obliterated the world record for solo rowing across the Atlantic!

To give you a sense of the incredible achievement by Mark.  When Mark completely solo had reached the goal in the West Indies there were boats that carried teams of two or three rowers that had only reached halfway over the Atlantic ocean.

The boat equipment:

Mark had two main requirements for a PV-system on his boat: it should be as lightweight as possible and utilize as much of the available surfaces to maximize power production and reliability.

After many calculations, we were able to fit an impressive total of 11 permanent solar panels on his boat, with an extra 100Wp panel to be mounted during emergencies. The boat features 3 pc 70Wp and 8 pc 18Wp solar panels, with all charging specifications carefully balanced so we can rely on only 2 MPPT charge regulators (and thus save more weight). The system powers all Mark’s essential communication and back-up equipment, but also provides a charge for his iPod.