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Autonomous, Solar-Powered Kayak Adrift Off Nova Scotia Looking For Help

The Canadian Press, 23 Jun, 2016 11:44 AM

HALIFAX — An unmanned kayak, powered by the sun and the ambitions of two young engineers, may be taking a more leisurely route across Atlantic than originally planned.

The lonely Solar Voyager set off from Gloucester, Mass., on June 1 in a bid to become the first autonomous boat to make the transatlantic voyage.

But according to its Twitter feed, the sleek 250-kilogram kayak has become adrift off Nova Scotia's east coast after possibly getting snarled in fishing gear.

The feed says the project team temporarily halted one of its two motors Wednesday as it was headed further away from land, and that the other motor and rudder were not working properly.

The team, made up of two engineers now working in Singapore, says it's hoping fishermen on the Grand Banks find the boat and free it from the nets.

A post on Sunday described dragging that was so violent it blocked transmissions from the satellite modem on board the four-metre-long aluminum boat, which has two solar panels as its main power source.

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