The goal is not to sail the boat, but rather to help the boat sail herself.”

― John Rousmaniere.

“Oh fuck”!

Lieutenant James Cook, Commander HMB Endeavour, Great Barrier Reef, East coast of Australia.

On 10 June 1770, HMB Endeavour under the command of Captain James Cook was sailing north along the east coast of Australia. At 11 pm, it struck a reef and started taking in water. Desperate to lighten the ship, the crew heaved nearly 48 tonnes of material over the side, including ballast and cannons. Twenty-three hours later, at the next high tide, the Endeavour pulled free. Six weeks were spent repairing the ship at what became known as Endeavour River in Queensland.

Endeavour’s ballast and cannons were found, encased in coral, on the ocean floor off Queensland in 1969.

A disaster that could have been averted with a $29 App from the Appstore.

Boats provide us the ultimate escape machines. But boats have limitations, some can’t carry sufficient fuel to make it to the furthest reaches of the planet, others are limited in their ability to sustain and support their passengers for more than several days. Sailboats can negate the requirement for large fuel tanks, but both sailboats and powerboats require power to run equipment on board.

Technology can help us solve these problems, whether it’s through more efficient energy harvesting, deeper energy storage or efficient electronic devices onboard. Energy management systems only available to superyachts a mere dacade ago, can now be purchased for pocket change from your local chandlery.

The marine technology industry is advancing in leaps and bounds, especially in the areas of energy harvesting and storage, the current global focus on renewables research has spilled over to all facets of the marine technology industry. It’s no longer a pipe dream to imagine trans oceanic yachts that are completely electric with batteries charged by solar panels and hydro generators.

A checklist cannot fly a plane, or sail a boat. Instead, they provide reminders of only the most critical and important steps.”

Atul Gawande

“A sailor is an artist whose medium is the wind.”

Webb Chiles

The marine industry offers us off the shelf, robust solutions to cater for any budget, however, some of us enjoy tinkering and building solutions for our needs that are more flexible and upgradeable for very modest costs.

Enter, stage left… Technical Yachts. We are a group of techies (software developers, hardware developers, electrical technicians and handypeople) that enjoy nothing more than working on solutions to problems we identify, and sharing the results with the community.

Our intention is to use this platform to create tutorials, build and open source projects and share our learnings. The focus of most of our projects and learnings are aimed at creating the systems required for self sufficient escape machines, whether that be trans-oceanic boats or weekend sailers.