6 minute read
Team Brittannia Intrepid adventure
There can be few record-attempting projects like Team Britannia that have been eight years in gestation – indeed, if you add the original aim to break the round the world powerboat record in Spirit of Cardiff (which didn’t quite make it), you’re talking about a dream nearly 20 years in the making! But through all of this, Portsmouth engineer, businessman and Team Britannia Principal Alan Priddy has remained doggedly focussed.
“It would have been a lot easier if we were trying to get sponsorship for a sailing attempt,” he admits. “Powerboats don’t seem to have such a broad appeal, particularly when it’s just one racing against the clock.” The official UIM record of 60 days 23 hours 49 minutes has been held by New Zealander Pete Bethune and his boat Earthrace for nearly 10 years, with the original record set by the British boat Cable & Wireless Adventurer – also held for 10 years – which in itself illustrates just how difficult it is compared with sailing records which fall far more frequently.
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It’s probably best illustrated by Priddy’s latest after-dinner talk entitled “A funny thing happened on the way to the start line” – a light-hearted retelling of the many “now you see it, now you don’t” offers of sponsorship which have come and gone. But despite all the setbacks, Team Britannia’s boat – to be named Excalibur, after the Arthurian legend – is under construction. Indeed, it’s not far off completion – with launching and sea trials anticipated to take place in early 2018, and the record attempt starting from Gibraltar later in the year.
While the Hayling Island boatyard building Excalibur has seen a succession of high-profile visitors including TV survival celebrity Bear Grylls, the very recent media visit by a group of Chinese journalists had an immediate and profound effect. Alan Priddy had given the party a tour of Portsmouth’s naval heritage, then whisked them over to ABC Marine to see the boat. “Aren’t you a bit old to be taking on something like this,” asked one of the journalists, probably half Priddy’s age. He modified his view when Alan challenged him to an arm wrestling contest, and beat him – twice! Days later, coverage in the Chinese media went ballistic. One of the stories, syndicated through the national news agency Xinhua appeared in numerous print and online publications. In that one week, 37 features about Team Britannia were assessed by independent media monitoring service Meltwater to have attained a reach of nearly 40 million!
On a somewhat lesser scale, the last few years have also seen substantial press coverage for Team Britannia – all in all an amazing achievement for a boat not yet in the water. The core of it has been in UK national newspapers, but a lot further afield, including the USA and Canada, Australia, not to mention throughout Europe. And now, China.
Notwithstanding that frisson of national pride that wants to see the round the world powerboat record
back in British hands, there’s no doubting the additional interest created by Clean
Fuel, which is central to the attempt, and developed by Alan Priddy in parallel with the boat project. Mixing water with diesel might sound like a recipe for seized cylinders, but do it right, and you have the means to cut pollution dramatically. Particulate Matter (known as PM) and various Nitrous Oxides are the stuff of smog in every major city throughout the world, and governments know that this pollution is responsible for thousands of chronic illnesses and premature deaths every year. Banning diesel vehicles could be one drastic solution, but the problem would vanish if they were all burning the water in diesel mix of Clean Fuel. It all comes down to an emulsifying agent which combines with the water and diesel in a patented mixing process.
“Team Britannia will showcase the benefits of Clean Fuel by mixing it for use as we go,” explains Priddy. “Our reverse osmosis watermaker – standard issue on many ships and boats – will create potable water from seawater. The Clean Fuel emulsion, water and diesel are piped into the mixing unit – about the same size as a small sewing machine – and the resultant blend pumped into a small holding tank ready to feed the two Fiat Power Train engines. Mixing on the fly gives us the maximum range possible from each 30,000 litres fill of fuel. Data will be fed to Team Britannia’s website so people can track fuel usage, engine temperatures and lots more, which we hope will be of interest to scientists and techno-geeks alike.” At the time of writing, Clean Fuel Ltd has just been engaged as consultant for an Italian company building a new fleet of 21st century water taxis to operate in Venice.
While Team Britannia and Clean Fuel Ltd are two distinctly separate entities, they have their areas of common interest, which extend to investment opportunities, and intriguingly, what follows after the round the world record attempt. “As far as Team Britannia is concerned, any investors would benefit from the long-term plans to expand the adventure into a series of races,” explains Team Britannia financial director Paul Stewart. “And once proven, the boat itself has the potential for similar vessels to be built for military, search and rescue, customs and law enforcement roles as well as luxuriously kitted out for private use. In just over two years, incredible scientific advances, all now patented, have made Clean Fuel Ltd world leaders in emulsified diesel fuel for the marine and industrial sectors.”
For potential overseas investors, Stewart is also well placed to navigate the intricacies of applying for a Tier 1 investment visa, the essential documentation for anyone looking to invest into the UK. “A Tier 1 visa is required if a foreign national wants to invest £2m or more in the UK,” he says, “but it also dramatically shortens the time it takes for those looking to be granted a UK passport. My legal team in London – which has many different language speakers including Chinese – provides full support throughout the stages in the process, using the rules linked to UK investments.”
While Team Britannia has shown remarkable resilience in simply getting their record attempt to the start line, there’s no doubt that a lot will fall into place in early 2018 when the boat is finished, and in the water. “Trying to sell a concept when there’s nothing tangible has been difficult,” admits Alan Priddy. “But even with the boat under construction, everyone who’s laid eyes on it has been amazed at the size, and the engineering excellence. It’ll make all the difference once she’s afloat, and people can actually see how amazing she is.”
www.teambritannia.co.uk
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