The Boat That Flies: From Zero to 50 in 10 Seconds

With her wings skimming across the water, this super yacht soars above the competition. Its state-of-the-art design means the world’s fastest yacht can clock an amazing 60 miles an hour – and reach 50mph in just 10 seconds. The Hydroptere, which uses marine and aeronautic technology, relies on giant wings to almost fly across the water. Pictured in these gorgeous photos taken off of the French coast the yacht, which weighs 7.5 tons, it’s easy to see why the powerful boat has broken so many world records.

The superyacht is an experimental sailing hydrofoil designed by French yachtsman Alain Thibault and in full flight only 2.5 square metres of the boat are in contact with the water. This means that she can shoot from 20-45 knots (23-51.5 mph) in just 10 seconds.

Named after the Greek words for water and wing (hydros and ptere) the yacht uses aeronautic principles to give it flight. To take off, Hydroptere has ‘marine wings’, the foils, which are placed under each of the floats of the trimaran.

Once the boat reaches 10 knots, these immersed ‘wings’ deploy at 45 degrees in the water and generate an upward thrust which raises the boat like the wing of a plane. Then the hull and the floats of Hydroptere fly five metres above the sea surface and as in the air, the higher the speed, the greater the lift.

When fully extended, its carbonfiber sails and mast reach 28m high – the same height as the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Over years of trial and error the designers came up with a unique shape to optimise the sail efficiency and minimise air friction. The boat is made strong by the use of carbon fibre impregnanted with epoxy and titanium parts. It’s overall length is 74.7ft – three times longer than the average one bedroom British flat. It’s sail area in flight measures 560 m² – much bigger than new UK one bedroom flats, which measure on average 76m.

Source: The Nation