Now here's a cool event scheduled to take place in 2010. It seems that UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, and the World Air League have come together to create the World Sky Race, an around the world event that will pit dirigibles against one another.
The event will actually be 16 back-to-back races, covering more than 30,000 miles around the globe, with each stop coinciding with a World Heritage Site, such as the Colosseum in Rome, the Great Pyramids at Giza, or the Taj Mahal in India. The race is designed to not only promote these amazing places, and world heritage in general, but also sustainable travel and the use of zeppelins for tourism.
The article says that skyships like those that will be used in the race can reduce energy consumption by as much as 75% over road travel, and consume 89% less fuel than a long haul aircraft. In addition, they require fewer ground resources as well, being able to land on smaller fields and having a much less of an impact on the surrounding environment than an airfield would. Of course, that all comes at the expense of speed however, as it will take much longer for these aircraft to reach their destination.
It would seem that in 2010 we'll have a very cool event to look forward to, as the World Sky Race begins to ramp up. It should be cool to see what kind of designs we see on these blimps and who their sponsors will be, but it sounds like a really cool race. I'd love to be able to come along for the ride for an around the world by blimp trip!
Thanks to the Wend Blog for tipping me off on this one.
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