Every team now received the same one-design catamaran hull and had to design only the cockpit and propulsion system — the format the Challenge still uses today.
12–14 July 2018 · Port Hercule, Monaco
The 5th edition drew 29 teams from 10 nations to Port Hercule and introduced the biggest change in the Challenge’s young history: the Energy Class, a new category giving every team an identical YCM-supplied catamaran hull to fit with a propulsion system of their choice. Vita Yachts (Scotland) won the Offshore race in the only sub-one-hour finish, while the Clafis Victron Energy Solar Boat Team matched its own solar speed world record.
Competing teams
Classes
Nationalities
Every team now received the same one-design catamaran hull and had to design only the cockpit and propulsion system — the format the Challenge still uses today.
Pilot Gerhard van der Schaar repeated his 26-knot (49 km/h) solar speed record, set the same year at the World Cup in the Netherlands.
The Scottish crew posted the only finishing time under one hour: 54 minutes 41 seconds.
24 laps of the 1km course completed in one hour — the benchmark performance of the Solar Class.
Solar A-Class 2nd–3rd — Antwerp Maritime Academy (850 pts), AGH Solar Boat Team (596)
Solar Open 2nd–3rd — TU Delft Solar Boat Team (825 pts), Sunderbird (619)
Solar speed record — Clafis Victron Energy Solar Boat Team, 26 kn — matching its own world record
Solar Endurance — University of Antwerp — 24 laps of 1km in one hour
Notable Tech Talk — Solarboot Team Emden (Germany) — presented a solar boat programme for school transport on Lake Bunyonyi, Uganda
The headline story of 2018 was structural: the brand-new Energy Class gave every team an identical YCM-built catamaran hull, removing hull design from the equation so the competition could focus entirely on propulsion — the one-design format that still anchors the Challenge’s flagship class today.
From 2014 to today, browse every chapter of the Monaco Energy Boat Challenge.
