Watercraft

The Quadrofoil is new form of watersport recreation - a two-person electric hydrofoil which offers a thrilling and dynamic 40 km/h (25 mph/22 knot) ride along with completely silent running. Due to the remarkable efficiency of hydrofoils, it achieves all this with just one 3.7 kW electric motor, and thanks to its lightweight (150 kg/330 lb) carbon fiber and Kevlar body and in-built 4.5 kWh lithium batteries, it has a range of 100km (62 miles).  Read More

Gosh, millionaires had it tough back in 2009. At that time, if they wanted to spend US$50,000 on a zippy, semi-submersible, sea creature-inspired watercraft, they were stuck with the basic dolphin-like model of Innespace’s Seabreacher. Now known as the Seabreacher J, it was joined in 2010 by the faster, wider and nastier-looking shark-inspired Seabreacher X. Now, word has reached us of yet another Seabreacher creature – the orca-like Y model.  Read More

Spartanburg, South Carolina, is home to one of the largest privately owned chemical and textile research establishments in the world, Milliken & Company. The firm's innovative research that combines textiles and chemistry has now produced a thermoplastic composite called Tegris that is cheap, recyclable and tough. These properties make Tegris an attractive alternative to (or composite partner for) carbon fiber, and it's already proving to have wide ranging applications in the automotive, military and sporting industries.  Read More

Billionaire oligarchs, ahoy! Designer Gian Paolo Nari has been in touch to tell us about his NPe75 mega-yacht design. The 75-meter (246-ft) vessel incorporates not only a helipad, but also a hangar to accommodate your preferred flying machine. The design has actually been reduced in size from 85 meters (279 ft) to make it marginally less impossible to dock - a decision made easier by the omission of a second helipad in the bow, which was deemed impractical due to the bow movement typical of such vessels.  Read More

The folks at Detroit’s Gibbs Technologies are no strangers to aquatic vehicles. In the past several years, they have brought us the zippy Aquada sports car, the Quadski ATV/personal watercraft hybrid, and the four-wheel-drive Humdinga SUV concept. Yesterday, they announced the addition of another two vehicles to their fleet – the Phibian and Humdinga II high-speed Amphitrucks.  Read More

If you combined a stealth jet fighter and an attack helicopter and stuck them in the water, what would you get? Well, according to the folks at New Hampshire’s Juliet Marine Systems (JMS), you’d get their GHOST marine platform. Privately developed for possible use by the U.S. Navy, the boat would reportedly be invisible to enemy ships’ radar, while also being faster and more economical than existing military vessels. The company’s big claim, however, is that GHOST is the world’s first super-cavitating watercraft.  Read More

If money is no object to you, but environmental concerns are, then LUXURY’s MIG 675 might be your kind of boat. The 22 x 8-foot (6.7 x 2.5-meter) cruiser seats three, has a top speed of 70 mph (113 km/h), and produces emissions consisting of nothing but water vapor – this sucker is hydrogen-powered. It's where that hydrogen reportedly comes from, however, that may really raise a few eyebrows.  Read More

It may sound like the premise for the latest Pixar movie, but it’s actually happening – four small autonomous aquatic robots have embarked on a 60,000-kilometer (37,000-mile) journey across the Pacific ocean. The Wave Gliders, built by California-based Liquid Robotics, left San Francisco last Thursday. All four will travel together to Hawaii, at which point they will split into two pairs – one of those pairs will proceed to Australia, with the other heading for Japan. Called PacX (for “Pacific Crossing”), the project will constitute the longest voyage ever completed by an unmanned ocean vessel.  Read More

Riding a high speed personal water craft (PWC) can be an exhilarating experience, but not everyone likes the adrenaline or the engine's roar. Aimed at those new to such water toys, or families with kids, the Waterbuggy is designed for calmer activities. Designed by the Turkey-based Bodrum Marine Group, the Waterbuggy offers a maximum speed of 8-10 km/h (5-6 mph) and can be reportedly operated by a child. Think of it as a combination of a PWC and a paddle boat, or a kind of floating bumper car.  Read More