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Comment by helsinkiandrew | Hacker News Reader

Video of one of their smaller "speedboats": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2i2Zf9WVlNY

I guess they can operate in waves that don't reach the hull? At least sideways

EDIT: Their FAQ says the speedboat can handle 1.2M high waves: A Candela generally outperforms regular leisure boats in rough weather. The maximum wave height when foiling is approximately 1.2 meters from wave peak to valley.

https://candela.com/faq/

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Mikael at Candela here. Our C-8 can foil in wave heights of around 1.2m, which are pretty big waves for a 27-foot leisure boat. The P-12 is designed for much bigger waves, and can foil in 2 meter high waves, meaning it will be able to cover rough weather in archipelagos and littoral waters. The catamaran hull is also efficient at slower speeds up to 10 knots, if the weather would not permit foiling.

They have sensors that detects waves and adjusts the hydrofoils to avoid crashing into the water.

If one would like to use hype words I guess one could call them AI-driven hydrofoils or something

Control is the word you are looking for.

It is a _control_ system that takes sensor _inputs_ and _outputs_ hydrofoil tilt actuation.

It maybe controlled by undergraduate Control Theory or some secret sauce predictive model but making a claim in either direction is speculation.

That video has the title "extreme weather". That's a very liberal use of the word "extreme"

Now try the North Sea on a windy day: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYzIWngs_T8

Watch the helicopter coming in to land 30 seconds into the movie. It lands at the end.

And? It's a ferry designed to operate, like most ferries, in littoral waters. Harbors, bays, rivers, channels, and ocean areas close to shores. Not North Atlantic bluewater conditions.

This has as much relevancy as "nerrrrrr, dumb plane, why did they build it if it can't fly from NYC to Australia" while looking at a picture of a Dash-80, a regional commuter plane.

I doubt these small taxis are designed for the North Sea though.

They would be perfect for the public boat transportation system in the Oslo fjord between the islands there.

Mikael at Candela here. Norway is indeed a target market for us!

No these are mostly meant for rivers and intercoastal waterways. They're not going to be used for intercontinental travel.

Now try Las Vegas. I can beat it on a bicycle by myself over any distance under 200 miles and if you have to return to the Luxor pyramid, I could beat it myself over any distance.

Just in case anyone was ever wondering why the conditions of a SpaceX launch (specifically for the water landings), but also any launch with an at sea recovery zone can prevent a launch from occurring even if the weather is sunny at the launch site.

Wow that helicopter must be super light weight for the blade to rotate so slowly near the end. :-)

Fantastic example of stroboscopic effects in video.

That's a well know problem for all of us that want to surf around Stockholm: the baltic sea us just too calm. You can go to Torö and hope for rhe best but in reality even with good wind, all you can do is wing or SUP foil, not even enough to try prone foiling...

(My comment may sound sarcastic but I am serious: the baltic sea has always seen other types of boats, both for leasure and commercial)

It's extreme relative to the operating capabilities of the hydrofoil.

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