This Hybrid-Powered Flying Yacht Lets You Soar Through the Seas

Alex Nino Gheciu March 5, 2018

Let’s, just for a second, forget about this lousy Smarch weather. And let’s enter a mental wormhole into a couple months from now, when — Helios willing — spring will be springing and we’ll be well into yacht season. When that time comes, you’ll have a pressing decision to make: do you want a boat that sails, or do you want a boat that fucking flies?

If you’re leaning towards the latter (and don’t kid yourself, you are) then the aptly named Foiler Flying Yacht is the schooner for you. Masterminded in the UAE by ENATA, the Foiler boasts an avant-garde hull design and retractable carbon fiber hydrofoils, which, when extended to full height, allows the yacht to float 1.5 metres off the sea, creating an effect some might compare to soaring.

Which, sure, seems awfully random, but hear ENATA out: the reason they wanted to build a flying yacht was to reduce the effect that choppy waters and turbulence often have on yachts, which are issues that have plagued sailing vessels since the pirate days. The result, says the company, is a butter-smooth take-off and landing, which will virtually eliminate sea sickness in passengers.

The Foiler also comes with a focus on reducing fuel consumption — it’s powered by two 320 hp BMW diesel engines, linked to two electric generators and two electric torpedoes for a hybrid propulsion system.

That adds up to a top speed of 40 knots (74 km/h), with hydro-foiling flight commencing from 18 knots with seven passengers and a driver. It’s also got a cruise speed of 30 knots (55 km/h), with a range of 130 nautical miles (240 km), drawing fuel from its 300-litre-capacity tank. All that while effortlessly cutting through six-foot waves, skimming above the water with no disruption to passengers.