Water Wings

Michigan Mike sent me a link to this video:

There is a whole subculture devoted to building and experimenting with these kind of devices. While they may be fun, I don't see any real practical value. Of course it is possible that someday someone may come up with a similar contraption that is practical. But for now the only really practical human powered boats are canoes and rowboats.

People have been fooling around with hydrofoils (water wings) for quite a while now. The military built a few, and then there was the guy up in Seattle that put hyrdofoils on his Bayliner. Suzuki built something they called a Wetbike a few years ago. While not strictly a hyrdofoil, it would raise itself up out of the water on skis. There is still a group of Wetbike devotees out there.

I think what we are missing here is a quick (15 to 20 MPH), practical boat that requires minimal horsepower. People are putting electric trolling motors on canoes, which is economical enough, but not very quick. If we put a canoe on hydrofoils, how much power would we need to get it up out of the water?

And while we are on the subject of getting across the water, one company seems to have found a successful niche selling hovercraft. There are big hovercraft in use here and there. The US military has some. This outfit also sells ground effect wings for one of their hovercraft. Take off and fly up to ten feet off the ground. Umpteen years ago the Russians were all over this idea.