Mini autonomous sailboat embarks on lonely race across the Atlantic

It is, perhaps, one of the slowest races in the world.

And even though the annual competition is in its ninth year, no one has ever finished it.

In fact, most competitors don't even make it to the start line.

The Microtransat Challenge sees autonomous, wind-powered sailboats find their way about 4,000 kilometres across the Atlantic.

Dalhousie University's entrant is currently racing across the ocean at a pace of about four kilometres per hour.

The SeaLeon, named after the school's former dean of engineering, Joshua Leon, was built by studentsand faculty at Dal's engineering department, and was placed in the water off ScatarieIsland in Cape Breton on July 30.

'You're going to have to cross your fingers'

The official starting line for boats travelling in an easterly direction is about1,000 kilometres off the coast of North America. Teams can also choose to travel from east to west.

The SeaLeon has already travelled more than 300 kilometres.

If all goes according to plan and Dal's 1.8-metre sailboatdoesn't get pummelled by a hurricane, smashedby a ship or caught in a fishing net, the SeaLeon should arrive off the coast of Brest, France, in 90 days.

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Jean-Francois Bousquetis optimistic.

"You've got hope," says the associate engineering professor at Dal. "As a developer, you always fear that you forget something.You're telling yourself you're not sure if you're ever going to see it again.And you're hoping, you're going to have to cross your fingers."

About the race and boat

The race has two classes of competitors the sailing class, which only allows for wind-propelled vessels, and the non-sailing class, which allows other types of propulsion. There are also two divisions the autonomous division, which does not permit any commands to be sent that could change the boat's course, and the unmanned division, which allows data to be sent to the vessel.

So far, SeaLeon has no competitors that are autonomous sailing boats, but teams can launch their boats anytime between March 2018 and January 2019, so it may yet have competition.

The sloop rig's hull is made of Kevlar-carbon hybrid cloth, and is filled with 120 D batteries that power a GPS sensor,compass and wind vane. Those sensors allow the boat to place its rudder and sail in the appropriate position.

Bousquet estimates the ship's materials cost about $10,000.

He said the project is a valuable learning opportunity for the mechanical and electrical engineering students who participated.

"It's a great project to teach students how to convert what they learn in class into real-life applications."

In 2015, the last time Dalraced in the Microtransat Challenge, its vessel travelled 1,400 kilometres, going in circles at times. Although it didn't reach the starting line, that was a record-breaking distance at the time. It was disqualified after failing to transmit its location for 10 consecutive days.

"This year, the boat's going in a very straight line," Bousquet said. "The sensors seem to be doing very well and the route that was planned seems to be traffic-free.You never know what happens,but the team is confident."

Hype and nerves

Bousquet said the project has generated a lot of excitement.

"Everybody's keeps on following it. Everybody's kind of hyped," he said.

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Since the vessel launched, Bousquet has been losing sleep, worrying aboutthe vulnerable little boat's fate.

"It's pretty hard to sleep at night. You don't have a lot of information about what's out there. You're sort of in the dark. So you have to have faith."

He admits that sometimeshe even gets up in the middle of the night to check the GPStracker to make sure the SeaLeon is still OK.

"It happens. Don'ttell anybody, but it happens."