Despite having great sea legs, I remember feeling a little green in the gills when faced with strong winds and choppy waters on an island hop a few years back. Would the trip have been smoother in a foiling ferry? A video from Candela has the answer.
The Candela P-12 electric ferry has been designed to smooth through waves of up to a meter in height (3.3 ft) when its hydrofoils raise the hull above the water, which happens at lift-off speed of 16 knots (18 mph). When in displacement mode, the catamaran hull can handle wave heights up to 2 m – but the vessel will then rise and fall as normal.
The difference for passengers when hydrofoiling is effectively demonstrated in the video below, where the P-12 can be seen operating alongside a rigid inflatable (RIB). The former offers a smooth and steady ride outside Nynäshamn Harbor, Sweden, while experiencing gusts of 14 meters-per-second (31 mph), an air temperature of -2 °C (28.4 °F) and swells of up to 2 meters. But it's a much rougher ride for occupants of the RIB.
"Before you start foiling, you can really feel the waves," said one of the winter run's occupants. "Then once you start actually going up on the foils, it all disappears." Looking out of the windows, she witnessed the folks in the RIB being thrown about as they tried to chase the P-12 for footage.
The P-12 has been in development for a few years now. Following its maiden flight in 2023, the 30-passenger ferry – named Nova – entered service in October last year, operating over a 15-km (9-mile) route around Stockholm. Candela has since received orders from Saudi's Neom project, Fly Tahoe in the US, and others.
It sports two C-POD electric drives for 320 kW of peak power, and enough onboard battery (252 kWh) for per-charge trips of 75 km (40 nautical miles) at a service speed of 25 knots (30 mph). DC fast-charging is supported for relatively quick turnarounds. The computer-guided hydrofoil wings raise the vessel out of the water when lift-off speed is reached, and help ensure passengers are treated to smooth flying throughout the journey.
Source: Candela
