18 year old makes history with first electric boat circumnavigation of UK!

Eighteen year old Harry Besley of Taunton, Somerset, England, set off on July 13 in his quest to become the first person in history to circumnavigate the United Kingdom in an electric boat. The 1600 mile journey began in Lyme Regis, Dorset and took him clockwise around the country. He victoriously returned to Lyme Regis on August 14 after a journey of 31 days, 22 hours and 20 minutes that saw him stop in 40 locations and spend more than 75 hours on the water.

Galaxy RIB with Evoy electric propulsion

The trip was made in a specially outfitted 6.5 m (21 ft) Galaxy RIB (Rigid Inflatable Boat) with an Evoy Breeze 120+ hp electric propulsion system. Two 63kWh liquid-cooled lithium-ion batteries from Kreisel were on board along with a 6.6 kW AC charger and a fast DC charger. The distance between charging stops ranged from 35 nm to 50 nm (40 – 58 mi / 65 – 92 km).

Read: Candela electric speed boat goes 420 Nm in 24 hours

The historic feat had multiple goals. One was to help raise awareness of how powerboat users can do their bit to reduce carbon emissions and to generally promote zero-emission boating. Another was to show that taking an electric boat on this kind of journey is possible now – although challenging because of the lack of shoreside charging stations.

The third was to encourage the installation of that charging infrastructure to support local sailing clubs, marinas and private owners in the transition of their vessels to electric propulsion. The trip has now set a baseline for electric boating capabilities in 2024 and a target for future challenges to beat! 

50+ sponsors of electric boat circumnavigation

Another reason was simply Harry being concerned about the state of the planet he is growing up on and wanting to do something about it. “We cause too much damage to the world” Harry says, “and I want to change that. I want to do something that people will remember, something that will have an impact.”

There has already been considerable impact with the boating industry. Over 50 companies in every facet of boatbuilding, accessories and services supported Harry’s mission as sponsors. They are too numerous to mention, but here is the Sponsors Page of the Round Britain Electric RIB website.

While the boat was capable of 35 knots, the average speed worked out to just over 12 knots. That includes a mix of planing at 17 knots and displacement cruising at 5 knots. The slower speeds were used during some of the longer stretches between charging stops.

With the multiple charging options built into the Galaxy and Evoy system, Harry was able to take advantage of whatever solution was closest. He and Jaqui Besley, the leader of his support crew (who just happens to also be his mother) told the BBC that crossing the Irish Sea and navigating the Scottish Islands was challenging, without many places to plug in. At times they were forced to use a portable charger.

“At some stops we’ve been pulling the boat out of the water to put it on a trailer and take it to a car charger.” Jaqui told the network. “In supermarket car parks, a fast charger is ideal.”

Another challenge was nature herself, as some of those charges had to be done in the middle of the night to meet tides “We have to leave based on the tide,” Harry said, “and it does not always play to our schedule. It’s been a long way. Quite tiring, and we haven’t got much sleep.”

High speed charging infrastructure being built

The flip side of those charging challenges is that the south coast of England is rapidly becoming populated with high speed marine chargers from Aqua superPower, who have installations in Plymouth, Poole, Southampton, Hamble-le-Rice, Cowes and Portsmouth.

Check out the Plugboats map of marine high speed chargers

Harry, his mother and the whole crew have to be commended for their perseverence not just over the past month, but over the past year and a half. The original plan was for the trip to take place in 2023, but logistics complications forced the date to be moved back.

The southern portion of the UK is a hotbed for electric boating and has seen two previous historic accomplishments. In June of 2023 the Optima E10 became the first electric boat to successfully tackle the famously tricky Isle of Wight ‘Round the Island Run’. A few weeks later the electric boat speed record for the trip was set by the hydrofoiling SpiritBARTech35EF with a time of 1 hour 56 minutes. 

“First Person To Circumnavigate The UK in an Electric Boat”. It’s one for the ages, and they can never take that away from you, Harry. Congratulations!

Round Britain ERIB  Evoy   Aqua superPower  Galaxy

Exciting things are happening every day in electric boats and boating.
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