I can't say it doesnt hurt to see this... (from SA homepage)

How ya supposed to 'pitchpole' it ???

Whats it rate?

Will we see this in the Olympic rowing events?

*gah* *spit* sacrilege!

Strange bows and shape for Tornado hulls. Does not look like Tornado hulls, even if SA says so.

Torben and Lars Grael are on the board of directors of that organization, so I dont know why it wouldnt be a T.
http://www.projetograel.org.br/en/default.asp

Well, no Tornado I have seen had plumb bows. Deck and lines dont look like any Tornado I have seen either. It is not as wide as an Tornado would be, but any boat could easily be made less wide. Not that it matters at all, it just dont look like Tornado hulls. I think SA got it wrong.

Grael brothers would never make something like this out of a Tornado

Hobie 20 perhaps? I thoght their bows were raked under more though. Not a Nacra 6.0 either. Looks like they might have chopped off some of the freeboard aft, it looks very flat and low to me.

I would agree with H-20 before a Tornado.

Not an H20, Not a T, and not a 6.0.

I think it's special built.

I dont think they would have bows extending that far out in front of the solar panels if it was custom built. Just extra weight.

Perhaps somebody should call the Gougeon brothers and check if they are missing one of their one-off creations.

Bow and lines reminds me of a Nacra 18m2, but it looks a bit long and narrow.

Not recycled and not a Tornado. A quick search revealed the following:

As 15 of the 19 participants of the Frisian style solar rally in Paraty, the Grael Project used cat hulls built at the Federal University of Rio. The boats are 6.0 m length and 2.4 m beam.

It is conceivable -but not certain- that the 15 boats were built using (part of) the tooling of the custom F18 built a couple of years ago for the president of Rio's sailing federation. (check the drawing here - and take a look at his custom A Class too.)

Project Grael is basically a community sailing program, targeting low income kids. It is amazing that they won against university graduates, which probably had better technology. According to the students, they won due to "better knowledge of how to use wind, waves and current in our favor".

All the best,

That is what I was thinking when i first saw this. The hulls may be the same, but modified the bows.

I think you are correct here.

Exactly.

The hulls were built at the Federal University of Rio with 6.0 m length and 2.4 m total beam, specifically for a solar rally that will finish october 31, 2009.

It's possible that they used tooling from a custom F18 built there a couple of years ago.

A twin engine low transom mount setup would have been a better look! Might require a few more panels and a wider platform, but it would look cool. The tall trolling motor just doesn't do it for me.