AN ENTHUSIASTIC group of academics and students in the UK is making rapid progress with work on a solar-electric powered boat that they claim will be one of the most sophisticated to enter the annual Solar Splash competition in the United States.

Team Tarka - led by Dr Peter Wilson at the University of Southampton's School of Electronics & Computer Science - comprises experts across the southern England academy in areas such as electronics, nanotechnology, solar energy and ship science.

They first entered the event with some success last year (2009) and have now designed and built a new, lighter and more efficient boat to compete in Solar Splash 2010, regarded as a world championship of solar boating. It takes place in Arkansas from 9-13 June.

Explaining some of the latest advances, Dr Wilson said that in 2009 their entry had a marine-ply hull whereas the 2010 boat is in carbon fibre - much stronger and lighter.

"The hull is much more streamlined and has been designed to have optimum drag coefficients for both the endurance and high-speed sprint events," he added. "The hull is 5.1 metre long, 0.75 metre wide and the boat is a single-seater.

"The single motor and outboard from 2009, which produced 9kW power, has been replaced with a dual motor and inboard to improve power and efficiency to 25kW at peak power. We hope to double the speed of the boat, at least, from 2009," said Dr Wilson.

"Other improvements include twice the capacity on our motor controllers - from 600A to 1200A, giving greater scope for going faster, improving solar capacity from 430W to 480W, and much improved control and telemetry systems. Our goal this year is to break into the top three of the event [from 10th in 2009] and be competitive in all the key events," he added.

In order to develop their ideas and materials, Team Tarka has sought collaboration with environment-conscious businesses interested in "green" boats or buildings, aerospace, engineering or general manufacturing.

"We have secured funding from a number of new sponsors and are actively looking to raise funds to assist in the shipping costs and travel costs for the team," said Dr Wilson.

Solar Splash is the World Championship of Intercollegiate Solar Boating. The competition takes place over five days, with technical inspections on the first day and the remainder of the time occupied by five on-the-water competitive events, when speed, manoeuvrability and endurance are tested.

2009 was the first time that a UK university entered a boat in the competition.

Despite having almost no budget for the project and having to economise so much that the boat's motor was bought on eBay, Team Tarka still managed to come in the top ten, winning awards for the "Rookie Team with the Highest Overall Score" and "top teamwork", "sportsmanship" - as well as a top three finish in the qualifying event, with the result that the team qualified as one of the "elite" boats for 2010.

"Last year we managed to produce a boat which was simple and light," said Dr Wilson. "This year, due to our new laboratory facilities, carbon fibre expertise and our advances in solar-powered technology, we can invest in a more professionally engineered boat aiming to be one of the most sophisticated solar-powered boat ever designed within the constraints of the Solar Splash competition.

"Furthermore, this is now a university-wide team, with significant contributions from the world-leading schools of Electronics & Computer Science, and Ship Science."