Solar-powered boat completing round world trip

Scanning the horizon on his solar-powered catamaran, Swiss electrical engineer Raphael Domjan counts down the hours to the completion of his record-breaking world tour. "The idea was not to perform a feat but an eco-adventure with the aim of passing on the message that change is possible," Domjan told AFP-TV as his boat furrowed through choppy waves from Italy's Elba Island to Corsica in France. Domjan began his journey from Monaco in September 2010 on the boat he built after seeing the effects of climate change on an Icelandic glacier, and he is due to complete it tomorrow when he returns to the Mediterranean port. "I realised climate change was real and I had to do something," he said. The 31-metre (102-foot) white Planetsolar, with 537 square metres of black solar panels mounted around a raised cockpit, cost 15 million euros to build, and the project only became possible after Domjan joined up with German businessman Immo Stroeher. Domjan, 40, and his crew, including a captain, a chief builder and a mechanic, are hoping that their exhausting but historic 600-day journey will herald a new era in eco-friendly travel, particularly in the tourism...