Hydrofoil Superyacht​? The birth of The Hyper Yacht

The Story

I could hardly say a hydrofoil superyacht is ‘nothing personal’ it is instead very personal. My name is Leopoldo Rodriquez and I feel privileged to say I grew up on Hydrofoils, or ‘Aliscafi’ as we call them in Italian, as my grandfather Carlo Rodriquez (see History) was and still is to date the one who built and employed most of the large hydrofoils (over 50 feet) that were ever built.

About 6 years ago I started toying with the idea that the world of Superyachts could have used a breath of fresh air and as America’s cup was deploying foil technology the general public was getting more and more familiar with this still amazing concept of hydrodynamic and its deliverables.

The People

It was only after I met the designer and engineer Lorenzo Lucchini Gilera whose great-grandfather could surely be considered as daring as mine (Giuseppe Gilera founder of Gilera Motociclette) that it became clear to me we had to start something radical. It became clear to me that a hydrofoil superyacht would have been a good start. Lorenzo had learned by masters of Yacht Designs such as Zuccon and Lazzarini and Pickering, however, very much like me, he was looking for something more intriguing and that wasn’t only about design.

My initial idea was that of a modern Yacht Version of the Pt20 just like the one in the James Bond movie “Thunderball” (See Video Above). However, we went to visit Rodriquez Cantieri Navali in Messina now Intermarine SPA, to see the latest prototype with fully submerged foils instead of semi-submerged foils. The FSH37 (or FSH 38).

With a preliminary agreement with Intermarine SPA, we started developing a design based on this tested vessel that was being tested and tuned with 2 different drive configurations: z drives and regular shafts.

After some initial designs of the exterior lines, I received a phone call from a young designer who I had known through common friends who called me saying I would love to design a hydrofoil yacht. Architect Daniele Natoli told me, it’s would be a dream for me because I was born on a hydrofoil. Daniele is indeed originally from Lipari (Aeolian Islands, Sicily) and I thought his speech was figurative due to the frequent use of ‘Aliscafi’ that connects those islands. Instead, Daniele Natoli birth certificate actually testify that he was physically born aboard of a 1963 Rodriquez build Hydrofoil model PT50 and his umbilical cord was indeed cut by Capt Francesco Romeo on the hydrofoil named ‘ Freccia Del Mediterraneo’ (see image below)

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From a Commercial Vessel to..

So we started to work on yacht design

Designing an innovative yacht is a very difficult job even with clients that know exactly what they want. Designing one were we had to imagine who the clients could be and where every kilo makes the difference because of the complex weight distribution is even harder.

Hyper Goals for the HyperYacht

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1) Lower Fuel Consumption at High Speed

2) Unprecedented Comfort

3) Unprecedented Stability at anchor

4) Smarter not bigger

5) Simple and timeless lines

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We loved the challenge and we wanted a new name for the type of yacht

Someone once said it’s not the size that matters it’s how you use it. So maybe instead of going bigger and bigger, it was time to see something smarter.

The Name: The Hyper Yacht

The word ‘super’ was originally associated with superpowers (see Superman) but in truth, in the yachting industry ‘Super’, ‘Mega’ and more recently the word ‘Giga’ still refers to size – the latter- for the 80m+ gigantic yachts.

We have been busy trying to innovate the technology as well as the nomenclature of what we would like to be the new generation of yachts. As we did not believe this “project HSY38” truly belonged to any of the known categories Super or Giga or Mega, we thought it needed to have a class of its own: HYPER was the right one.

What is The Hyper Yacht and why is it unique?

It all started from “projects FSH37” (See Video Below) already built and tested in two 1-1 scale prototypes (38m in lenght) from Intermarine Spa (formerly Rodriquez Cantieri Navali). Differently, form ‘traditional’ commercial hydrofoils with semi-submerged foil the FSH37 is equipped with fully submerged foils that do not need to follow the wave reacting with the usual rolling and ducking of the hull. Historically speaking, fully submerged foils are a less sophisticated design, however, pre 1950s when the first commercial Hydrofoils where built and deployed by Rodriquez Cantieri Navali.

Now we are ready to disclose some of the early images of the Yacht version based on such project, which thanks to a good ‘diet’ will be able to carry much more fuel and therefore a much longer range compared to the original FSH37.

We called it The Hyper Yacht

Advantages of the technology

1. Lower fuel consumption of an expected 50% at cruise speed compared to a similar size vessel at the same speed
2. Unprecedented comfort while on the foils the vessel goes up and down on the vertical axis with virtually no rolling and no ducking
3. The foils act as natural stabilisers while at anchor
4. The vessel thanks to the foils is also particularly stable at slow speed before ‘take off‘ or island hopping at slow speed

Why is this the only credible Hydrofoil superyacht soon available to order ?

1. Nobody except for Rodriquez/Intermarine has an history of over 300 hydrofoils built and maintained to date.
2. No other shipyards in the world as working 1-1 scale (38m long) prototype ready to test for serious buyers
3. The shipyard is reliable and publicly listed and will honour the delivery dates and the spec sheet performance and quality of materials 100% made in Italy.

For Brokers and Clients

If you are a broker or a prospective buyer and you would like to receive more detailed information or book a visit to the prototype please contact Mr Leopoldo Rodriquez at +44 7445 30 8622 or use the contact us form

The team behind the project