Regent signs deal with FRS for ‘flying ferries’ 

Regent Craft chief executive Billy Thalheimer told delegates at Interferry’s annual conference in Seattle, “My exciting announcement today is to announce our brand-new customer and latest sea glider order: FRS. We just signed a deal earlier today. We are excited to partner with them, exploring sea glider for their operations globally.”

This comes hot on the heels of previous sea glider contract announcements – Brittany Ferries at Interferry’s annual conference last year and Split Xpress at Shippax earlier this year.

Regent’s wing-in-ground-effect sea gliders are all-electric, zero-emissions high-speed ferries. They are a hydrofoil ferry in harbour and then can take off on wings, in the wing-in-ground effect, always staying within a wingspan on 2-10 m water as it flies at aircraft speed.

Mr Thalheimer also highlighted recent “major accomplishments”: it has received an approval in principle (AiP) from Bureau Veritas for the sea gliders – the first wing-in-ground-effect craft to have ever achieved an AiP.

Speaking on the AiP, Mr Thalheimer said, “But the most exciting thing they have done is taken that vision and turned it real. Sea gliders are a real thing now – we have a quarter-scale sea glider demonstrating all the technology in the flesh and in real hardware.

“We are showing the high-speed manoeuvrability on hydrofoils – and the most important thing they have done that no one has been able to do in the history of mankind is take off from the hydrofoil on to a wing, settle into that pocket of air called ground effect into the super-efficient state that is still regulated under maritime jurisdiction and operated by mariners who will operate these vessels left, right, fast and slow just like a boat today.”