Candela Hydrofoiling Boat Pulling a Skier

skibrain

Looks like long-line, and who knows what kind of a draft for the underwater gear, but isn’t no wake what we all dream about?

Orlando76

What’s the big deal? My 88 Ski Nautique had a wake just like that.

BrennanKMN

Pretty neat. Wonder what the tracking would be like for mid to short line skiing.

Mike Gile

Would be a cool way to teach kids to cross the wake

DaveD

Would be great if they could put foils that are retractable on a wakeboard boat to make an actual multi-purpose boat.

skibrain

$240,000
50 Nautical Miles of range at 22 knots
100% Electric
30 Knots top speed

Obviously the foils and prop would foul in a course. But still fun to see someone thinking differently.

MISkier

@skibrain, I don't think the prop or the foils would be an issue in an individually anchored course, unless the horizontal stabilizers/wings are wider than, say, 5-6 feet.

For a portable/cable course, you would probably only need to have the buoy lines another couple feet or so longer. The booms and mainline would need to be about 8 feet down.

liquid d

1/2 your boat guides would be gone in a day.

aupatking

Pylon height becomes an issue too. Notice on this one, every time the skier pulls the prop starts rooster tailing a bit. Not that it’s a problem. I’d love to ski it if it could be worked out.
Also, just curious if Freddie pulled his 900 pound pull on this thing, what would the boat path look like?

Wish

Very impressed. Thought I’d see a lot more of the boat getting pulled off line and get lean over far more with each pull like most outboard runabouts. Would be interesting to see even more improvement if the rope was secured to a pylon in the middle of the boat vs back by the motor. Very cool technology.

MuskokaKy

@skibrain thanks for sharing this. Really interesting and i know the gear heads here are already thinking of ways to incorporate / alter that technology to work on our big 3 DD's.

Wish

They seem to be very interested in promoting water skiing.

Garn

@Wish, there really isn't anything else for them to promote. Wakeboarders and surfers want just the opposite of what this boat offers - a big wake!

aupatking

The foils work exceptionally well on the biggest of racing blow boats, and those things have more sail square footage than most houses. The lateral force on those boats so far exceeds what any skier can do it’s unimaginable. If the drive units can be made to keep a more level plane, and consistent speed, this would revolutionize tournament skiing

Wish

@aupatking so my thought has been that a skier can easily pull this boat off line. Are u saying the opposite is true? From the videos so far, I do not see it getting pulled off line.

aupatking

@Wish these things are so fast they actually exceed the wind speed. They’re insane to watch and have totally changed the sailing world. Look at the sail on the American boat. Even the Fred doesn’t pull that hard

skibrain

Agree. Foiling blades could both resist roll and provide a bunch of lateral stability. In application to a dedicated ski boat running on flat water, foils could be much shorter.

Trick wake TBD. Maybe boat doesn’t fly until 20 mph. 🙂

Laz

It's a brilliant step in the right direction. I'm not sure how many more steps it will take to replace what we have now.

GregHind

Incat have been building massive wave piercing catamarans with computer controlled stabilising foils for decades. If the foils the ability to steer left and right plus control up and down they would become an incredible ski boat. I guess the boat this thread about would basically already have that because it can steer when flying. Cool... and what a way to get kids skiing faster and faster through the course until they are doing a speed and are big enough they can handle the wake of a traditional boat. This would really help my kids progression all aged 7-14.

Here is a pic of an in at boat. I would think this one would be fitted with their computer controlled stabiliser for rough sea use.

aupatking

@GregHind the best boat out right now for your kids to get comfortable with wake crossing is the Prostar, not even a competition. That’s the thing I really miss about my 2014. I got 12 year old girl through her first full pass behind it because she was afraid of the wakes behind every other boat. My 7 year old still talks about how much she misses that boat. I do too

MattP

@Horton

Horton

@MattP yes?

BugHunter

The risk of tearing up the course or your expensive underwater gear would be to high to use it in the slalom course. And for open water it might not have the range people need. Still very cool to see though.

For kids and small wakes; I used a jetski for both of my kids until they started pulling to hard through the (very small) wakes to keep the thing straight.

MopedMedicks

If self tracking/autonomous steering boats were approved in the next few years in the AWSA Towboat Certifications - why would we continue to need boat guides?

Perhaps this technology pairs well. Many will miss the trick wake, but a heck of a nice table for toes.

Fastguy888

I think the professional sport should maintain a reflection of the recreational sport. If foiling ski boats become common I am all for it. I love slalom for the dynamic balance of forces; Boat, Driver, Water, Skier... Take too many of those away and its a different sport. Its a slippery slope too; dedicated ski lakes could rig a track down the middle with just a pylon pulling a skier too. Cable parks are common (although can not take a 1,000 lb side load without deflecting).