Soliloquy Wins Condé Nast Traveller Award

Soliloquy

A panel of experts submitted her for nomination, but the general public gave her the final prestigious recognition: The super-green superyacht concept Soliloquy received an award from Condé Nast Traveller at a presentation ceremony in London last night.

Three megayachts were among the nominees for the annual Condé Nast Traveller Innovation and Design Awards, an annual competition in which the magazine’s print and website readers vote to select the final winners. Of particular note was the fact that Soliloquy was the only yacht nominated in the Sustainable category. (The other two yachts, the WHY 58×38 and Perini Navi’s Panthalassa, were nominated in the Leisure category but did not win.)

Unlike other concept yachts, Soliloquy taps currently available technology: solarsails produced by the Australian company Solar Sailor. Solar Sailor’s team and the yacht’s designer, Alastair Callender, determined that Soliloquy would be capable of speeds to 8 knots powered only by solar energy. This, in turn, would make her emission-free and lower in cost to operate.

So what was Callender’s reaction to winning? When I reached him for comment today, he replied, “I am over the moon!” He added, “I was truly humbled to be awarded this most prestigious of design awards in the Sustainable category. The whole issue of sustainability very close to my heart – and was a fundamental reason for why I undertook this revolutionary design. This award is the biggest achievement of my career to-date. For my name to be listed alongside some of the world’s most respected international design studios is a real honour.”

As for his next steps, Callender continues to look for an investor or group of investors, “to take this concept into a reality.”