On board crew
Raphaël Domjan
Swiss
Initiator and Expedition Leader of PlanetSolar
PlanetSolar’s 39-year-old founder is a man of conviction. Raphaël Domjan came up with the PlanetSolar concept, and he has done everything possible since to turn his dream into reality. Someone who genuinely dabbles in everything, Raphaël Domjan wears several hats and takes part in numerous activities that are closely connected to man and nature. He is an ambulance driver, a high mountain guide, a rescue specialist in perilous environments, and more. Passion is what drives him on!
The PlanetSolar project – an extraordinary technological and human challenge – is also an expression of the world view held by Raphaël Domjan and the team he has built around him: the belief that our planet deserves a better, brighter and less polluted future. Future technologies must be keenly investigated and solutions must be found. The project will help to motivate engineers and scientists to develop innovative technologies, inspire people around the world and show that the impossible can become possible.
Erwann Le Rouzic
French
Captain/Master
Erwann Le Rouzic is an experienced professional sailor, starting his career at sea in 1991, sailing on different cruise vessels since 2001. Parallel to his professional career, he pursued his passion for the sea on sailboats. He calls on various and diverse sailing experiences as skipper and mate including National & International Sailing Races in France, offshore sailing including a 60 day Transatlantic crossing as Skipper in 2002, and ocean voyage from Canary Islands to France.
Erwann Le Rouzic follows Patrick Marchesseau on PlanetSolar in New Caledonia for the next legs. For the continuation of the tour he will share the Master’s responsibility with Patrick.
Erwann Le Rouzic: « I am very excited to join this fantastic project that I see has a legacy to Jules Verne, the famous writer who was born in the Atlantic city of Nantes in France like me. I am thrilled and proud to have the opportunity to contribute to the change towards renewable energies. »
Patrick Marchesseau
French
Captain
Patrick Marchesseau (43) is an experienced professional sailor who started his career at sea in 1988. He is a reserve officer of the French Navy. He has been sailing on different cruise vessels since 1991. Marchesseau was captain of the French cruise ship LE PONANT when it was kidnapped by Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden in spring 2008.
Patrick Marchesseau decided to take part in the first solar boat expedition around the globe because he wants to prove that you can sail around the world using only energy generated by the sun. He says: “It’s a technological challenge I want to participate in.”
Jens Langwasser
German
Bosun
Born in Rostock, Jens is part of a long line of seafarers and sailors, constantly seeking success in yacht races. Jens followed in his ancestors’ footsteps, starting out in an Olympic dinghy then progressing to 50 to 80-footers in round-the-world races and X boats.
He trained at a Lübeck shipyard to become a boat builder, then moved to Knierim in Kiel, where he now works as a project manager. Jens has a strong marine heritage so he carries the title of “bosun” – or boatswain – on board the MS TÛRANOR PlanetSolar. The boatswain on board the old square riggers was the person in charge of running the show on deck – they had to know the ship inside out from bow to stern.
Jens was head of the construction team and project manager of MS TÛRANOR PlanetSolar at the boat building yard Knierim Yachtbau in Kiel, Germany. He was involved right from day one: from the initiation, when several design plans needed assessment, and the actual construction, to the launch and the first test drive. He put a total of 68,000 man-hours into the boat, mastering a real challenge for the shipyard to construct the MS TÛRANOR PlanetSolar within a remarkable 16 months. Jens says: “PlanetSolar was probably one of the most challenging and unusual projects we have ever had at the yard. After 16 months of intense work and thinking, the project turned into some kind of ‘special boat’, a special creation. I am delighted that I will actually experience the boat on the round-the-world trip now, so I can witness how everything works out at sea.”
Christian Ochsenbein
Swiss
Energy Management
A real mountain boy, Christian grew up in the Swiss city of Thun overlooking the famous Eiger mountain. Nonetheless, he has been exposed to water, shipping and navigation ever since his father worked as a chief technician in the shipyard on Lake Thun. In and around the lake, he experienced the pleasures and challenges of yachting, hiking, diving and swimming.
For 18 years, Christian trained actively and regularly for the 100 m and 200 m breaststroke, participating in the Swiss Championships and winning the bronze medal twice in the finals. In 2008, he graduated as an electrical engineer. Despite a new job offer, in the summer of 2010 he decided to join the MS TÛRANOR PlanetSolar expedition as head of energy management.
Christian says: “I have always taken a special interest in environmental and international affairs, seeking solutions that could bring about improvements. This curiosity combined with my profession as a technician makes the PlanetSolar project very interesting indeed. The mission of MS TÛRANOR PlanetSolar is to demonstrate and highlight potential technological solutions to our global energy issue. It could make a difference and I find this real-life case study extremely interesting.”
