Dive Brief:
- Regent Craft conducted the first flight of its prototype Seaglider passenger vessel with two people on board Sept. 2, as it prepares to begin production next year, Regent co-founder and CEO Billy Thalheimer told Smart Cities Dive. The vessel can fly over water at high speeds.
- The inaugural crewed flight lasted just 30 seconds but produced “an incredible amount of data,” he said. It flew 1,956 feet at a height of 33 feet above the water, according to a press release.
- The 12-passenger electric vessel aims to provide transportation along coastlines and between coastal communities worldwide, Thalheimer said.
Dive Insight:
The vessel has three operational modes, Thalheimer said. It floats like other boats at low speeds, transitions to hydrofoils beyond the dock and flies a short distance above the water at higher speeds. In open water, it would operate at speeds of 20 mph to 50 mph, but it can go as high as 180 mph where it’s safe to do so, such as in open areas.
The Seaglider uses hydrofoils, which act as an underwater wing that lifts the vessel out of the water at a certain speed. When in flight, it rises no higher than its equivalent wingspan length to take advantage of a phenomenon known in aviation as the ground effect: When a descending airplane is close to land or water, the air and pressure distortions between the wings and the surface create lift. It’s why an airliner appears to float just before landing.
For safety, the vessel has a triple redundant digital control system and redundancies that allow it to maintain power in case of a battery system failure. Thalheimer said the company is developing a detection system with computer vision technology, giving the captains “a very high degree of maritime situational awareness.” It will be able to fly at night, he said.
The vessel can be captained by one or two people and is regulated by the U.S. Coast Guard, Thalheimer said.
Regent has two years of backlogged orders, as well as defense contracts, Thalheimer said. The Twenty Five, a luxury coastal travel operator and membership group, will be the first delivery and launch partner for Seaglider operations in the Northeast and Southeast U.S., Regent announced in June. The group has ordered up to 60 vessels to serve routes including New York City to the Hamptons; Boston to Nantucket, Massachusetts; Palm Beach, Florida, to Miami and Miami to the Caribbean.
Founded in 2020, Regent began with a quarter-scale version of the prototype, which has evolved into a separate product as an autonomous drone for the military, Thalheimer said.
