A 1.2-metre-long unmanned sailing boat built by UK-based maritime technology company Oshen has become the first autonomous vessel to cross the Atlantic entirely unaided.
PC13 crossed the finish line east of Barbados at 05:56 local time on Sunday, September 13, after having set sail from Gran Canaria in the Canary Islands on May 7.
Over 127 days, it covered 2,926 nautical miles, navigating trade winds and busy shipping lanes to win the Microtransat Challenge, an autonomous vessel racing event.
The Microtransat Challenge has been described as a "friendly competition" to cross across the Atlantic in the fastest time.
The rules for fully-autonomous boats are exacting. Entrants must make their way across the ocean entirely unassisted, and once underway, teams cannot influence the vessel’s decision making or change its course.
Boats must also be small: no more than 2.4 metres long. This deliberately limits the deck area available for solar panels and therefore the amount of power for onboard systems such as computers and thrusters.
Oshen said the technical and physical barriers are such that the fully autonomous prize remained unclaimed for 16 years, though more than 30 attempts have been made since 2010. Oshen was the first to succeed, at its third attempt.
The craft used is a long-endurance autonomous surface vessel that Oshen originally developed for clients in the research, defence, and offshore energy sectors. Operating singly or in fleets, they can record up to two million data points per day, measuring variables such as sea surface temperature, air temperature, air pressure and humidity, salinity and water density.
PC13 did not encounter a hurricane during its Atlantic crossing, but it did sail through the developing low-pressure system associated with Storm Dolly on August 28 and 29, around day 113 of the mission.