The single-seater Pegasus is an all-electric foiling craft combining high-performance and the intuitive handling of a bicycle.
Foiling electric surfboards may have seemed like the ultimate superyacht toy, but wait until you see one of these new Pegasus foilers come flying past your boat.
Developed by Finnish start-up Foil.One, it’s an all-electric single-seater that combines the thrill and excitement of a high-performance foiling craft with the ease and simplicity of a bicycle.
Built entirely out of carbon fibre and with styling inspired by Formula One cars of the 1960s, it is capable of speeds up to 30 knots while flying a couple of feet above the water.
Rides like a bike
The secret of its user-friendly design is a unique analogue foiling set-up that combines steering, balance and ride height in a single intuitive mechanism.
Originally discovered by Japanese foiling pioneer Kotaro Horiuchi over 40 years ago but refined and perfected by Foil.One’s chief designer Eric Smits, it uses a steerable front foil linked to a pair of handles in the cockpit similar to those in a rowing eight or on a recumbent bicycle.
Leather wrapped steering handles deliberately mimic the look and feel of a bike
Pull the right hand lever and the whole front strut twists clockwise like a long thin rudder, causing the Pegasus to lean into a tight right turn.
Pull the left hand one and it twists anticlockwise causing it to pop back upright before leaning down into a left turn.
The beauty of this is that it behaves just like a bicycle, so anyone who can ride a bike will get the hang of balancing and steering it within a couple of minutes.
The other key innovation is a ‘surface-sensing wand’ that hangs off the back of the front strut and controls a central elevator flap on the trailing edge of the front foil.
In reality this is a fancy term for a hinged lever with a float at one end linked to a push rod at the other.
When the float makes contact with water, the drag from the water pushes the rod backwards, forcing the flap down and increasing the lift generated by the foil.
Cables link the handles to a carbon-fibre steering arm on top of the front foil
When the float lifts clear of the water, it falls forward again, tilting the flap up and reducing the amount of lift generated.
By constantly touching and then lifting clear of the water, the wand keeps adjusting the foil up and down so the hull stays flying above the water.
The only control the driver has is the ability to adjust the sensitivity of the mechanism to take account of the conditions and limit how high it flies.
The flatter the water, the higher you can ride and the harder you can carve it through the turns – up to a lean angle of 45 degrees.
Hatches give access to the batteries and enable the foils to lift; the Pegasus is built entirely out of carbon fibre
Silent power
Propulsion comes from a modest 10kW electric motor in the stern linked to a slender shaft running down the rear foil strut to a 90 degree gearbox and propeller.
A small wing-shaped foil just above it serves as both a ventilation plate and a lift generator.
At low speeds, the Pegasus behaves like a small displacement boat with the 1m deep foils acting as stabilising keels, but at 10 knots, the bow lifts clear of the water, followed shortly afterwards by the stern.
The surface sensing wand behind the front foil strut forces the elevator flap up and down to vary the amount of lift
A foot throttle controls the speed, while the fixed rear foil can be adjusted manually to account for different driver weights.
Two 5kWh Torqeedo batteries provide the power, giving a run time of up to 2.5 hours at 20-25 knots for a range of around 50nm.
These can be taken out of the boat and charged at home or the whole craft can be lifted onto a trailer and towed behind a car.
Thanks to its lightweight carbon fibre construction, it weighs just 200kg and both foils slide up through the deck when not in use to reduce its draft.
Waterproof Torqeedo batteries in the bow and stern give up to 2.5 hours of foiling fun at 25 knots
While the colour scheme can be customised, this first one is finished in British Racing Green and Gold as a homage to the legendary 1960s Lotus 49 F1 car raced by the likes of Jim Clark and Graham Hill.
Foil.One even went to the trouble of creating an entire back story for a fictional British racing driver called Reggie Hawke to help promote the Pegasus.
With a starting price of €109,900 ex batteries and taxes, it will need all the help it can get but for superyacht owners in search of the ultimate toy or waterside dwellers with a penchant for eye-catching gadgets, this revolutionary electric foiler has the style and the technology to reward any early adopters.
And if sales go well, plans are already afoot for a two-seater Pegasus and even a full-sized foiling sportsboat.
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