Flying on electric – eFoil surfing
Flying on electric – eFoil surfing: These guys have gotten onto something with their electricity powered craft. That pops right out of the water and flies ! Even in choppy seas, the board just floats along like a high speed magic carpet.
If this is barely proof of concept level, we can just hope they apply the revolutionary technology, to our fishing boats! Imagine the fuel savings, and the ride comfort! You could bang out through the waves without touching even one!
The main idea to achieving high levels of fuel efficiency, is to reduce the wetted surface area of your vessel. This concept eliminates that huge factor completely. Meaning far less horsepower is required to achieve useable speeds.
Years back, Fergus Hamel came real close with his rather big cat at the time – the Makaira 860. It had foils in the tunnel, fore and aft, which really helped lift the boat higher out the water, at planing speeds. With twin 2 stroke Yamahas at 150hp each, the boat felt and meanuevred like a little ski-boat. And rode so very comfortably. I tested the first one out of Cape Town – The Bimini Twist, by putting her through the 1989 Harbour Island Broadbill Classic. We rode that boat hard and straight – into huge swells, green water, they were calling it, to the Cape Canyons. Where we raised the first bill of the tourney – back then it was a revolution, finding broadbill so close to home (well 40 miles due south). Most other boats could not handle those seas, and had to return early as the sea got worse. We were able to stick it out – getting tangled with many unidentified fish – until Erwin Bersik got his outsized winning broadbill, and sent us all home.