Well, I thought I read in his bio that he's a former large scale shipping engineer?
The dilemma is that with those qualifications, why would such a person spend so much time and effort making up such a Challenge, making a website about it, doing the follow-up here and on his own website, etc? That is a complete mystery?
Let us say that you are almost correct in the assumption of falsehood. If then, there is at least even a small possibility of it being real, the winning entry will provide important data.
The best thing is someone coming forward with the solution and taking the award phase to the next level.
no?
Here is some things to think about:
1. He refuses to offer any evidence he has the ability to pay. He has been asked and the only responses are,"The money is there" or "The question is off topic."
2. NASA has made a winning submission available online. Well at least until Heiwa changed the challenge and now someone must include both a manned mission to the Moon and Mars.
3. He has either ignorantly or intentionally misquoted NASA officials. Like claiming they said space travel was easy. He also has many factual errors on his website that have been pointed out to him. He does not make any changes to his claims.
4. He continues to claim no one has been able to tell him the amount of fuel required for a lunar mission or maneuvers when myself and others have.
5. He avoids answering questions directly.
6. He refuses to be corrected. A good example is on apollonet. He did a calculation wrong manner that resulted in the wrong answer. It was shown to him his method would result in vastly different results for the same amount of velocity change if you changed the initial velocity. He also refused to acknowledge the post where it was pointed out.
7. He has claimed more than once no one can win his challenge.
8. He lives in a building owned by a company that manages subsidized housing for the French government.
9. His designed something not implemented on any ship. A double hull performs better in most situations, did not meet US requirements for zero emission if the hull was breached, would reduce the cargo capacity of the ship, added complexity and cost with no to very little benefit over a multihull design. He was most likely never more than a safety or maintenance officer on a ship.
Personally I think #9 is part of the reason we have the Heiwa we have today. I would wager the conspiracy theories started after the US Coast Guard rejection of his design. There is also his ego involved.
10. His marine safety company has no client list or is listed anywhere else except his website.
11. If you care to look through his post you will see him claiming stuff in an attempt to make himself seem more credible than he is. Like him claiming he was involved in the aerospace industry. Which then changed to owning shares in a company that is. Then that changed to owning shares in a company that own shares in a company that is.
12. His other "challenges" show similar patterns. Like his Estonia challenge. I pointed out where other ferries operating in the same area where the Estonia sank had their visors and ramps damaged. He claims the that it was impossible for the waves in rough conditions to cause any structural failure to either the Estonia's visor or ramp.
The reality is his "challenges" are there to comfort him and stroke his ego. It makes him feel better to be able to claim no one has won his challenge and him thinking he has special knowledge and smarter than any others involved in engineering.
He is a liar that lies to himself and others. His "challenges" are dishonest and fraudulent that no one will win because he is the judge, biased, will not admit he is wrong and claimed they are unwinnable. It is very, very questionable if he has the ability to pay. His actions as of yet and the evidence suggest he does not have the money.