Badass Hydrofoils

If you haven’t herd of The Kiteboat Project (http://project.kiteboat.com/), you need to drop what you’re doing and take a peak. They’ve designed a totally awesome foiling craft. It uses a software driven kite, giving this particularly special boat control that just wasn’t there before. The lateral and upward forces created by the kite not only allows for unparalleled speed, but also reduces the amount of lift needed from the hydrofoils. It’s a win win. 

Once upon a time it was a part of Makani (http://www.google.com/makani/), now owned by Google. They were on a collective mission to build the next generation of high output wind turbines, and the technology they developed to control their new high altitude wind generation kites also allowed them to create this new beast of a vessel.  

With vast applications for marine efficiency gains, it will be exciting to see where this one goes and how it can be used to help the marine industry.

I know you want to know what it’s like to ride on this puppy, just click the video below. 

Badass Level: 9

The AC72

You weren’t supposed to be able to hydrofoil these monstrous boats, but the Kiwis figured out a loophole which allowed it to be possible. 

The second that happened, the famed Americas’ Cup became more of an engineering battle than it was a sailors battle. Who could optimize their boats more. That was the name of the game. 

The giant carbon fiber wing sails can achieve a multiplier of 2.3+ times the speed of the wind.

They could have very well changed the sport of sailing forever.

Speed: 40+ knots 

Happy Memorial Day to those that give it all. 

Ships that fly, an independent collection of some of the worlds most revered hydrofoil designs, include year introduced and the countries that worked on them. 

USS Pegasus Class PHM (patrol, hydrofoil, missiles) were in service from 1977 through 1993.  Developed by Boeing, jet propulsion. Impressive pieces of machinery. 

Capable of speeds of up to 48 knots because of two huge water jets. 

Elektrofoil Foiltwister had a super-innovative flexible forward foil that stably adjusts the angle of the boat inherently within the design of the boat. Very smart.

Per the name, I’m making a compilation of the history of hydrofoils & keeping up with the state of the art. I also love marine drones so expect to see some of that as well. All of this is important because: