Electric Boat Association

The Electric Boat Association (EBA) is the main membership organisation for electric boat enthusiasts, owners, and related businesses in the United Kingdom.[1] It was established as a branch of the Lead Development Association in London in 1982, and is the largest organisation in the world dedicated to electric boats and boating [2]

It was the first such national association, others followed in France [3] Australia,[4] The Netherlands,[5] the United States[6] and Greece [7]

Governance and organisation

The EBA is constituted as a member-led, not-for-profit unincorporated body, with a membership that fluctuates annually between 3-400 individual and business members. Members elect the Office Bearers at the AGM.[8]

Aims and activities

The association aims to generate the revival of electric boats, including innovation in both engineering and battery technology, lower wash hull design, alongside the setting up of an infrastructure of charging points hand-in-hand with the reduction of licence fees and a regular participation in both boat shows and rallies on the Thames, Norfolk, the Lake District and elsewhere.

Publications

The EBA members magazine “Electric Boat News”,[9] has progressed to a full colour magazine and recently an online magazine. The EBA also publishes a Business Member's Directory & Product Guide Trade. Social media pages have also become important means of communication in recent years.

Challenges and Records

The Electric Boat Association promotes and encourages competitions and challenges.[10] The Solar Challenge Trophy was first established in 1997 and awarded that year to Malcolm Moss for his solar-powered channel crossing. The St David's Trophy was donated by the former speedboat racing champion, the late Fiona, Dowager Countess of Arran.[11] The silver cup is awarded for "significant advance in the field of electric boating". Rear-Admiral Percy Gick presented the Emsworth Trophy to the Association in commemoration of the 600 mile cruise the Admiral and Mrs Gick made in 1978 in their cruiser "Electra of Emsworth". It is a great-crested grebe (the EBA symbol) in limewood carved and painted by Captain John Powell of Emsworth.

The Emsworth Trophy is awarded to the EBA member whose boat completed the longest journey achieved during any consecutive four-month period in accordance with rules laid down and as determined by the committee. Mansura Perpetual Challenge Trophy, launched in February 2007, is for innovation in the design, development and operation of boats with hybrid or all electric propulsion systems. The bronze trophy, depicting the tiller head of the 1912 hybrid motor yacht Mansura, was donated by Julian Delmar-Morgan, grandson of the yacht's designer and owner, and David Barratt.

Over the 2015 August Bank holiday weekend, Les Fidler of Westview Marina Earith achieved his personal challenge of cruising from Bedford to Denver Sluice (then the return trip to [Earith] ), a distance of over 100 miles on one charge. Annie, Les and Elaine Fidler's 27 ft cruiser has solar panels fitted to the roof to assist charging but the weather for most of the weekend included torrential rain and very little sun to be seen.

In July 1997, 24 hour Endurance Record was set by EBA members Pat and Paul Wagstaffe M.B.E. in their 29 ft launch ‘Wagtail V’. Organised by EBA business member Thames Electric Launch Company, the record was established covering 116 miles in 24 hours on a single charge over a measured stretch of the River Thames near Goring. Four years later, Richard and Anne Leeson, EBA members, offered their classic 1899 Andrews river launch ‘Pike’ for an Endurance Record attempt. Conducted in co-operation with the Guinness Book of Records, the record attempt was carried out over the same stretch of the Thames used in 1997 but this time the run lasted for 30 hours and covered 137 miles on a single charge.

These and other events in the progress of the Electric Boat Association have been chronicled in Kevin Desmond's 280-page illustrated history "The Electric Boat and Ship" published by McFarland Books in September 2017.

References

1. Electric Boat Association
2. Marine classics
3. L'Association Française pour le Bateau Electrique
4. "The Electric Boat Association of Australia". Archived from the original on 2011-05-29. Retrieved 2019-08-05.
5. Netherlands Electric Boating Association
6. The Electric Boat Association of America
7. The Electric Boat Association of Greece
8. Constitution of the EBA
9. Boatbuilding Academy
10. records
11. (Obituary)

• Electric boat
• Solar Navigator Project World's first solar boat circumnavigation attempt
• Solarwave Catamaran First self-sufficient ocean-going electric yacht
• The Moss Solar Trust
• Electric Seas Organization