Tetrahedron Hydrofoil Yacht Wants to Fly Above the Waves
Nothing says wealth like your own pyramid.
Generally speaking, even those of us with minimal maritime experience can tell if a boat is going to be speedy. Fast boats tend to look lean, stretched-out and sleek; slow ones are usually wide, squat and visually heavy. So, based on those metrics, the Tetrahedron Super Yacht doesn’t look the slightest bit fast. In fact, sitting still in the water, it looks like the sort of vessel your grandmother could outpace walking across the pool during aquacise class.
But give it enough gas once under way, and the geometric boat begins to rise nobly out of the water until it seems to be hovering above the waves as it cuts across them at speeds close to 40 knots. Thank the power of the ship’s flying fish-shaped hydrofoil hull, which telescopes down from the belly of the yacht once it accelerates past 15 knots. This underwater hull provides thrust and stability, while a blade-like support pylon holds the pyramidal body high above the water. (A trio of small hulls provides low-speed buoyancy.)
While balancing a giant pyramid on top of a strut at 45 mph might seem like a recipe for motion sickness at best and a way to flip said pyramid onto its side at worst, the yacht’s creators claim the ship’s autopilot and fly-by-fiber-optics control system can manage unwanted movement in all three axes. The whole system, developed in partnership with Baltimore’s Maritime Applied Physics Corporation, is dubbed HYSWAS—Hydrofoil Small Waterplane Area Ship.
When the yacht comes to a stop, all three sides of the lower deck can fold down, opening up the decks and making it easier for the owner’s supermodel harem to hop into the balmy Caribbean waters. At 71 feet long and with a beam of 82 feet, this yacht is big enough for half a dozen passengers—though you could stretch that if said harem doesn’t mind doubling up in bed.
For the moment, the Tetrahedron Super Yacht remains in the concept stage, where outlandish superyacht concepts often spend years gestating before some billionaire gives them the monetary nutrients for them to grow to fruition. It hasn’t been stated how much money it’ll cost to set the Tetrahedron loose on the high seas, but considering your average, non-hydrofoil 70-foot yacht falls in the $3 to $5 million range, we doubt you’d get much change back from your briefcase filled with $10 million.
The best part of this story, though, is the name of the company behind this bizarre boat: Schwinge Yachts.
