Wednesday 2 August 2017

Boating On Steroids - An Electric Foiling Speed Boat

Seen here during testing on Bristol Harbour, this appears to be a prototype high speed foiling power cat. We did see her rip across the harbour, silently, late one afternoon in the fading light. When I approached the crew later they were unable to talk about the vessel at all, except to say it was an "electric speed boat".

The presence on the dock of a technical support vehicle from Goetz Composites shows that these are serious structures - Goetz have built 10 Americas Cup challengers and defenders, and have been involved in 5 Volvo Ocean Race (Whitbread) campaigns. Ironic that the testing of this high tech vessel was taking place right in front of the Herreshoff Museum, where the boats of the Americas Cup legend were originally created.

Reliance & Shamrock III, USA Library Of Congress Image

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