Grafityp crosses the Atlantic Ocean

Rowing

Koen De Gezelle (boat builder and captain), Jelle Veyt (physiotherapist) and Gijs Vanden Bogaert (sailor and engineer) are three brave Flemish rowers, who will cross the Atlantic Ocean from Portugal (Portimao) to Miami… They want to do this in two and a half months. It was our Belgian distributor IGEPA from Aalter who informed us of this project. And this project was recently also launched by the Flemish television channel VTM. A very prestigious and adventurous project, which Grafityp was eager to join.

All the more so, since the common thread in the story is “SUSTAINABILITY”.

The boat itself is almost 10 meters long and is made of an environmentally friendly synthetic material and covered with solar panels to generate the electricity. Other environmentally friendly sources of energy are hydrogen fuel and rechargeable lithium batteries. Vegetable food will be grown on board during the voyage. All waste will be recycled and composted. Furthermore, there is no plastic packaging anywhere on the boat. And they get their drink from rainwater (collection) and a device that can distill seawater into drinkable water.

The men will row in pairs, and they will alternate for a two-hour break.

For this project, the printable film and the matching laminate of Grafityp were of course chosen. In order to protect the film against the aggressive seawater, the edges at the waterline were protected with a reflective film (which is mandatory at sea for small ships) and the other edges were sealed.

A hellish job that Rudi en Johan managed to do in 3 days!

We will follow this project via satellite and will certainly keep you informed of this adventure on a regular basis.

Koen, Jelle and Gijs, we wish the best of luck and a lot of courage to complete this journey.