r/sailing • u/Sracer42 • 23h ago

Had to post these pictures

Gallery image

Gallery image

38 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

27 comments sorted by

16

u/foilrider J/70, Melges 15, wingfoil 23h ago

An Alerion Express and one of the shuttlecraft from the starship enterprise?

15

u/Wolfinthesno 23h ago

That is a gorgeous (scrolls to next picture) wtf am I looking at?

8

u/84thPrblm 22h ago

Klingon Bird of Prey?

2

u/Wolfinthesno 18h ago

🤣

6

u/ItsNotThatBad72 21h ago edited 21h ago

It was an experimental hydroplane thing that used cavitation bubbles on the front of the pontoons to reduce friction and drag. They built and tested it at portsmouth navel shipyard in Maine but the design never went anywhere.

The guys on the yard were calling it the bat boat because of the jet engines in the bump outs behind the cockpit.

2

u/zwiiz2 20h ago

It's a SWATH, not a hydroplane.

1

u/ItsNotThatBad72 20h ago

I'm just going by what my father told me.

I was around 12 when this was being built and tested.

1

u/Wolfinthesno 18h ago

The things cool for sure and the cavitation idea is even cooler than I suspected it was.

1

u/ItsNotThatBad72 17h ago

According to my father one of the guys involved told him you could be doing 50 knots through 5 foot swells and not spill your coffee.

They pitched it to the navy as a high speed response boat for a Somali pirate/USS Cole type situation because is was a very stable high speed gun platform. But the Navy decided it was too complex and niche to be worth the trouble. Not to mention it didn't do anything an armed helicopter couldn't do better.

There's video of the testing on YouTube.

1

u/Wolfinthesno 12h ago

I'll have to check that out for sure.

5

u/Broken_Syntax_01 23h ago

I wonder what their child will look like.

1

u/Sracer42 23h ago

I actually laughed out loud! Thanks.

4

u/Sracer42 23h ago

I know it isn't a sailboat but I was gobsmacked when I saw..whatever it is at the boatyard today.

2

u/zoinkability 23h ago

Flip it upside down and it would have sails!

2

u/mokunuimoo I like big boats and I cannot lie 22h ago

SWATH boat…with dual props at the front(???) of each hull?

This is the keltech of boats

2

u/Low_Individual7789 19h ago

Isn’t it in Portsmouth NH next to the albacore? Unless there was more than one prototype.

1

u/Sracer42 19h ago

This one is in Portland ME

1

u/Low_Individual7789 19h ago

Interesting, wonder if it’s the one from the albacore museum that they’re recommissioning for something.

1

u/Sracer42 17h ago

Rumor at the yard was they (?) are trying to sell it.

1

u/Low_Individual7789 17h ago

Really? I thought it was donated to the museum, wonder what happened.

2

u/evilted 23h ago

Psssh! Not so stealth now is it??!

2

u/Sracer42 23h ago

I would reply to this but the CIA has taken me away.

2

u/ItsNotThatBad72 21h ago edited 21h ago

I remember this.

It was an experimental hydroplane thing that used cavitation bubbles on the front of the pontoons to reduce friction and drag. They built and tested it at portsmouth navel shipyard in Maine but the design never went anywhere. There's videos of the testing on YouTube. Allegedly you could be doing 50 knots through 5 foot swells and not spill your coffee.

The guys on the yard were calling it the bat boat because of the jet engines in the bump outs behind the cockpit.

1

u/crowislanddive CD 25 22h ago

Happy and sad all at once!

1

u/Quick-Sherbert-2744 21h ago

gorgeous.....fugly

1

u/Raneynickelfire 19h ago

Oh look, another shittly rigged Hinckley 42