{"id":21954,"date":"2021-02-15T10:45:21","date_gmt":"2021-02-15T08:45:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.victronenergy.com\/blog\/?p=21954"},"modified":"2021-02-15T10:45:21","modified_gmt":"2021-02-15T08:45:21","slug":"wind-cargo-maiden-voyage-return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.victronenergy.com\/blog\/2021\/02\/15\/wind-cargo-maiden-voyage-return\/","title":{"rendered":"Wind Cargo: Maiden voyage return"},"content":{"rendered":"

The sustainable cargo ship Grain de Sail<\/em><\/a> is expected to arrive back home in France by the middle of this week after completing her maiden voyage to the Americas.<\/p>\n

Trading in Wine, Coffee and Cocao, Grain de Sail<\/em> is a cargo ship with a difference – she leaves no carbon in her wake.<\/p>\n

The ship is owned by the company – also called\u00a0Grain de Sail<\/a>\u00a0– based in Morlaix, France who are coffee roasters and chocolate makers selling their produce through over 650 outlets, and achieving a turnover of \u20ac5m, whilst offering full-time work to over 50 employees.<\/p>\n

With his crew of four, Master Lo\u00efc Briand set sail on the 18th November with 15,000 bottles of French organic wine bound for New York – over 3,000 miles distant – where he arrived 28 days later having weathered 50ft waves and four storms.<\/p>\n

The vessel left New York on December 28th and tracked through the Caribbean to Central America to load 33 tons of Cocoa Mass (future voyages will load coffee, too) before embarking on a return Atlantic crossing to the port of St Nazaire – where they will clear customs before sailing on to their home port of St Malo, in France.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

As you might expect the Grain de Sail<\/em> produces and stores her own sustainable electricity, too, from a rugged and dependable power system designed for the rigours of the sea.<\/p>\n

Her\u00a0Victron Energy<\/em>\u00a0installation includes units built with the Professional Mariner in mind, such as an\u00a0Isolation Transformer<\/a>\u00a0offering power security without the risk of galvanic corrosion.\u00a0Two 5kW Quattro Inverter\/Chargers<\/a> provide domestic AC to the ship’s main loads which include fresh and sea water pumps; an electric cooker in the galley; plus air-conditioning for the hold.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Three SmartSolar MPPT Solar Charge Controllers<\/a> harvest solar energy from three Solar Arrays, for storage into a bank of ten AGM Batteries<\/a>\u00a0whilst a\u00a01000A Lynx Shunt<\/a>\u00a0keeps track of the power harvest and demand. \u00a0An Orion Tr DC-DC converter<\/a> allows 12VDC navigation equipment to be operated from the ship’s 24VDC supply. A Battery Isolator<\/a> allows two battery banks to be charged from one alternator which avoids the risk of forgetting to separate the house and starter battery banks once again when charging is complete – a constant worry\u00a0present with ‘manual’ switching procedures.<\/p>\n