We do get lots of unsolicited PR pieces from various companies pitching products. Normally, we move them into our junk folder. But last week a Slovenian startup managed to attract our jaded, seen-it-all editor with their personal electric hydrofoil. He really liked this two-person watercraft, which is produced by the crafty engineering team at Quadrofoil.
Hydrofoils always seemed like technical overkill–a hybridization of jet plane and speed boat. Does anyone remember the scene in Antonioni’s L’Avventura where the huge hydrofoil makes an appearance? That and other symbols of an unrelenting and indifferent modernity seemed to sneer at our pasta-crossed lovers, Claudia (Monica Vitti) and Sandro (Gabriele Ferzetti). Or better yet the hydrofoil in another 1960’s era flick, Thunderball, where it was used as the seagoing HQ of the meglomaniac Largo (Adolfo Celi).
The point being that for some of us hydrofoils were the stuff of Bond movies and jet-set life styles.
This Slovenian team may change that perception. They’ve succeeded in taming and downsizing the hydrofoil, turning it into a friendlier, and perhaps more practical application of this nautical technology. Two of you can sit down in their winged boat and go for pleasant cruises at a favorite lake or seaside resort. It’s completely green—powered by batteries—and takes flight at speeds of over 12 km/hr. The company assures us that the Quadrofoil is practically unsinkable.
Quadrofoils start at 15,000 euros. If you’re still interested, the company is accepting pre-orders with first shipments expected in March 2015.