San Diego Yacht Club Electrifies Fleet with Purchase of Vita Electric Boats

September 23, 2024 – Vita Power announces the sale and delivery of two all-electric RIB boats, the Vita Seal and SeaDog, to San Diego Yacht Club (SDYC). SDYC is part of a growing group of yacht clubs in California that are purchasing all-electric boats for their club-owned fleets.  The SDYC Vita boats will support their year-round youth sail training programs, adult race management activities, as well as dockmaster duties around their marina.

In 2010, San Diego Yacht Club created a new waterfront facility with an emphasis on creating a facility with “green and sustainable elements” and aspired to host “Green Regattas.” Along with generous solar power generation, SDYC Malin Burnham  Sailing Center  is a LEED Gold certified facility. Jeff Johnson, SDYC’s Waterfront Manager offered “These boats fit so nicely with San Diego Yacht Club’s commitment to introducing ways to conduct our sport with minimum impact on the environment. To complement this now decade-old facility, we are proud to showcase the 100% Electric Vita powerboats as a robust tool for our junior sailing program and regatta management activities. We are eager to pave the way for other yacht clubs to understand the benefits of 100% electric propulsion and minimize the carbon footprint of our day-to-day yacht club operations.”

Johnson served on one of the 19 Vita Seal and SeaDog RIBS supplied by Vita in its capacity as Sole Supplier of Electric boats to the 2024 Olympic Games for the sailing events in Marseille (France), and again aboard SDYC’s new Vita boats a week later straight off the trailer to serve the 2024 International Star Class World Championship. Duties included shuttling event officials, towing competitors, setting marks, and safety patrols. These events affirmed the capability of Vita’s boats to perform multiple tasks for long days on the water, day in and day out for almost two weeks.

The Seal and SeaDog offer up to 10 hours of continuous use capability, while DC supercharging allows for rapid top ups between shifts with a 20 – 80% charge taking as little as 30 minutes.   Instant high torque and Vita’s proprietary responsive controls also ensure complex manoeuvres can be executed with ease, providing maximal towing and pushing force even at low revolutions per minute.

This sale marks Vita’s ongoing expansion in the US market, following recent sales in California to Newport Beach Harbor, Bill Foss, and WestPoint Marina. Vita’s customers benefit from key incentive programs including the Commercial Off Road Equipment (CORE) Voucher Program pioneered by the California Air Resources Board (CARB).

Tanguy de Lamotte, Vita CRO for North America, said, “Vita is excited to provide these two electric boats to San Diego Yacht Club to support waterfront activities for its club events and operations as well demonstrate the benefits and capabilities of electric boats for future racing events.”

Interested parties in the US should contact Tanguy de Lamotte ([email protected]) for a demonstration.