Classified Ads

04/13/2010

Microship seeks geeky skipper

The Microship is looking for a new pilot.

The infamous amphibian pedal/solar/sail micro-trimaran created by Nomadic Research Labs (with the help of 160 corporate sponsors, hired consultants, and dozens of volunteers) has been lying idle in the lab for a few years, while I have turned my attention to ships big enough to support open-ended global voyaging. As I have come to slowly accept that I will never launch the planned expedition that drove the Microship project from 1993 through 2003, I have reluctantly come to the conclusion that she should find a new skipper.

This is not a normal yacht, and finding a new home through traditional brokerage is absurd to contemplate. The new owner of this engineering-intensive boatlet should be someone with motivations similar to my own... I pedaled 17,000 miles around the US on a computerized recumbent bicycle while writing books and appearing steadily in the media, and this was conceived as a way to take a full-time technomadic life into the aquatic domain (complete with layers of network and communication technology).

The Microship needs to find a pilot who is mediagenic, geeky, and insanely adventurous. I would expect to spend at least a full-time week with the new owner here in my lab, sharing all aspects of the design as well as the infrastructure it represents for an overlay of systems, and I'll also stay available for brainstorming and consultation as the new project develops. The boat sails like a dream (heavy-hitter marine architecture consultants were on the design team), and is the resultant of over a dozen man-years of focused engineering work. This is a powerful substrate for a high-profile expedition.

She won't be cheap compared to other boats of this scale, and she's certainly not for everyone. But for the right person, she could represent a huge shortcut in time and money compared to the project that would be required to replicate this range of capabilities: pedal, electric, and sail propulsion; amphibian mode including folding akas and retractable landing gear; 480-watt solar integration; hydraulic controls; and much more.

For more information...

Contact: wordy@microship.com
Photo album: http://microship.com/photos
Tons of info is scattered all over http://microship.com/microship
Located on Camano Island, Washington (in my lab)

I can help you brainstorm the "business model" of a Microship expedition to see if it might benefit from sponsorship, publishing deals, or other spin-offs. Of course, she can just be a high-tech nautical toy for one with deep pockets and a yen for engineering. But personally, I would prefer to see the boat achieve her originally intended destiny of an extended public journey through coastal and inland waterways, and for the right person there is a good probability of corporate and media support (given the continuity of my work over the past 25 years).

Wordplay

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