The Skimmer – 100 km/h ground effect recreational water toy

February 22, 2007 Recreational vehicles will come in many different forms in the future as a raft of developing enabling technologies spawn new categories of technologically-enhanced ground, water and aircraft – not only are these traditional categories splintering, but there are new variations of toys for big boys, some of which will develop their own categories – craft like the part boat, part sled, part ground-effect Tupelov aerosan, the Bionic Dolphin and Sea-Breacher, the SeaPhantom, a host of recreational submarines such as Deep Flight, the amphibious Quadski and the list just goes on and on of new RVs that break out their own category. One emerging area of enormous promise is that of powered ground-effect RVs – we’ve already seen human-bearing inflatable towable water kites such as the Kite Tube and the Manta Ray and the now dormant Sharkski but with light weight, high power and computer-aided design, the concept of an affordable powered ground-effect vehicle for under US$50,000 is within reach. The Skimmer is a small jet-ski like ground-effect airplane that starts in the water and can be flown over sea, rivers and lakes, steered partially by handlebars and partially by moving one’s body weight, similar to the way a motorcycle is ridden. With a maximum speed of 100 km/h and maximum flying height is 1.5 metres, the Skimmer offers maximum excitement and minimal fuss, because no flight papers are necessary. Dutch product designer Roel Verhagen originally conceived the Skimmer concept as an entrant in the 2005 Braun Prize.

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