On Saturday, the Delta Lloyd Solar Boat Team of the Technical University of Delft were once again convincing winners of the Frisian Solar Challenge, the world's largest regatta for boats powered by solar cells.
On Saturday, the Delta Lloyd Solar Boat Team of the Technical University of Delft were once again convincing winners of the Frisian Solar Challenge, the world's largest regatta for boats powered by solar cells.
Delta Lloyd is the principal sponsor of the student team from the Technical University of Delft. The team covered the 200 kilometres of what is termed the "Elfstedenroute" passing through 11 Friesian towns in a new record time of 12 hours, 5 minutes and 47 seconds.
In winter, this route is also used for the best-known speed skating competition on natural ice in the Netherlands. In the process, the team cut five hours off the time it recorded the last time it won, two years ago.
Of the 49 teams entered from all over the world, after six stages covered in conditions of sun, rain and wind, 32 teams finally reached the finishing line in Leeuwarden, the capital of the Netherlands' Province of Friesland.
At the end of the Frisian Solar Challenge, the organiser announced plans for the event to be take place once again in the year 2010.
The Delta Lloyd Solar Boat Team of the Technical University of Delft had already been convincing winners of the world's longest solar boat race in 2006.
"The pressure this time was great", stated the team leader of the Delta Lloyd Solar Boat Team, Meinte van der Brug. "The competition has become much stronger and they are snapping at our heels. If everything does not mesh together perfectly, it is easy to lose ground."
For the participants, the second running of the Frisian Solar Challenge was a real competition. Nine teams failed to get through the qualifying trials and were not allowed to start. During the race itself, a further seven teams were eliminated due to technical problems or exhaustion.
In the opinion of Wubbo Ockels, a former astronaut and ambassador for the Frisian Solar Challenge, this year the boats were of higher quality and more highly developed from a technical point of view.
"Thanks to its regular participation in the World Solar Challenge in Australia, the Technical University of Delft can call on many years of experience in the fields of solar energy and drive technology.
"This road race using solar-driven vehicles - known as Nunas - is run every two years in Australia. So this victory comes as no surprise.
"However, when you consider that many of the competitors' boats have also become faster in comparison with 2006, then there are justified grounds for satisfaction. This holds out sound prospects for the future and points to an exciting race in 2010."
For the 2010 Frisian Solar Challenge, the organiser is expecting an even larger number of participants than this year.
"We have already had entries from six new teams who have not yet taken part in the race," explains the organiser's spokesman, Siem Jansen. "It is our declared intention to continue to grow.
"There are also serious plans to organise a competition for solar boats in South America. The five best would then be invited to the solar boat race in Friesland. We have also been invited to put on a demonstration involving participants in the Frisian Solar Challenge in New York."
Delta Lloyd - main sponsor of the Solar Boat Teams of the Technical University Delft
Delta Lloyd's Water & Climate Fund invests in the four elements of earth, water, fire and air. Fire stands for alternative sources of energy. One of these alternative sources of energy is solar power. Delta Lloyd is the principal sponsor of the Delta Lloyd Solar Boat Team of the Technical University of Delft (Netherlands).
The sponsorship provided for the Solar Boat Team is one of many examples of how the Delta Lloyd Group fulfils its social responsibility.
Other examples are the reduction and complete offsetting of Delta Lloyd Group's CO2 emissions, insuring wind farms, the first "green car insurance policy" to be introduced into the market by an insurance company and the Delta Lloyd Water & Climate Fund.
Delta Lloyd is proud to support the Delta Lloyd Solar Boat Team in the use of sustainable energy by lending its name in the role of principal sponsor.
Read more about:
- the Solar Boat Team: www.waterandclimate.de/solarboot.html
- the race: www.frisiansolarchallenge.com/eng/index.php
- the Delta Lloyd Water & Climate Fund: http://www.waterandclimate.de/
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Further information about:
A&B Financial Dynamics, Jorg Keller
Telephone: 069 92037-130
E-mail: j.keller@abfd.de
Delta Lloyd Deutschland AG, Press and PR, Martina Fassbender
Wittelsbacherstrasse 1, 65189 Wiesbaden
Telephone: 0611 773 25 71
Fax: 0611 773 14 2571
E-mail: martina.fassbender@deltalloyd.de
Notes to editors:
About Delta Lloyd Asset Management
Delta Lloyd Asset Management (DLAM) is the asset manager of Delta Lloyd Groep, one of the leading providers of financial services in the Netherlands, active in the fields of insurance, banking and asset management.
With assets of €42 billion (as at September 2007) under management for internal and external customers, DLAM is the fifth-largest asset manager in the Netherlands.
The asset management company administers investment funds for Delta Lloyd, OHRA and Triodos and also operates as asset manager for institutional investors.
About Delta Lloyd Germany
Delta Lloyd Germany is a 100% owned subsidiary of Delta Lloyd Groep, Amsterdam, and therefore part of the British Aviva Group.
The company provides a wide range of financial, investment and provident products from a single source, as well as competent consultancy in all financial affairs.
Along with the Delta Lloyd Leben and Hamburger Leben life insurance companies. The Delta Lloyd Group in Germany is made up of a pension fund and a consultancy company for company pension schemes, as well as its own private bank, a property company and a property financing brokerage.