Boating | First all-electric hydrofoil performance craft the Navier 27 ensures zero emissions and a superior ride

Powerboat builders, in particular, continue to churn out derivatives of a common theme, with the only significant improvements being in propulsion, construction and interior finishes. That's amazing - alarming - when so many modern vessels continue to guzzle fuel like there's no tomorrow.

Of course, in 2000, the innovation cauldron known as the America's Cup was producing monolithic monohulls that weighed 24 tonnes and needed 17 crew, yet could barely crack 15 knots.

None of the designers foresaw the rise of foils, the concept having been sullied by the notoriously unreliable Manly hydrofoil. Nor did anyone predict the electric motors we're now seeing in cars.

Put these two technologies together, though, and you have the Navier 27 from the US, the first all-electric hydrofoil performance craft. Navier is a Silicon Valley start-up that's on a mission to increase the efficiency of small powerboats while ensuring zero emissions and a superior ride. It's led by two engineers who have extensive knowledge in ocean robotics, aerospace flight controls and autonomous systems.

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For the Navier 27, they recruited Oracle Team USA's principal America's Cup design engineer, Paul Bieker, as lead naval architect.

"High output engines and cheap fuel, combined with inefficient but capable deep-vee hulls, has become the default way to move fast over water," Bieker says.

"Hydrofoiling allows us to travel just as fast while using about a third of the power of a conventional high-speed boat carrying the same payload."

It could be argued that this pioneering design is long overdue. Where sailing boats are subjected to the vagaries of wind, mechanical propulsion is far more constant and controllable. The main drawback, really, is the weight of the motors and associated engineering, along with draft and vulnerability to grounding.

That's where Bieker's experience and intuition is invaluable. He's not only an expert in hydrofoil optimisation but carbon-fibre fabrication.

The 27-footer will fly over 1.2 metre waves, rather than pushing through them. There will be less pounding, less onboard spray, and a predicted 90 per cent efficiency gain over a traditional 27-foot boat.

Its claimed range under electric propulsion "will exceed 75 nautical miles", which doesn't sound much but will nevertheless be the longest range for any all-electric boat in the world. Advanced autonomy features will ensure the skipper doesn't have to be a glider pilot to drive the thing efficiently.

I should add, we're not talking years into the future - the Navier 27 will launch during Fort Lauderdale Boat Show 2022.

"The thing that impressed me the most about Navier's approach to the 27 project is their focus on the technology and getting a boat on the water as efficiently and quickly as possible," Bieker says.

"It was also clear that their experience with innovative marine vehicles, flight control, and robotics will help ensure that the most challenging aspects of the project will get the attention they require."

Working on a recreational boat like Navier 27 was not dissimilar to developing an America's Cup thoroughbred.

"They are both an intense push to get from a clean sheet of paper to a race-ready team and boat. At the same time, there is less room for trial and error in the Navier. It needs to be dependable and safe from the beginning.

"If we execute the concept to its full potential we will have created a boat that combines high efficiency with comfortable general-purpose accommodations, and a foil arrangement that can handle rougher sea states than any small recreational hydrofoil craft built to date."

Book reviews may be a tad highbrow for this column but now's the perfect time to be curling up with a good read, especially when it's written by - and also about - the wife of one of Lake Macquarie's favourite sons.

Between Two Worlds it's not a sailing story, strictly speaking, but rather an inspiring tale of how Emma Outteridge united the sailing world to support orphaned children in Uganda.

Emma was raised in the America's Cup world as the daughter of Team New Zealand's business manager. She ran Louis Vuitton's international sailing hospitality program before, in 2009, moving to a primary school called St Paul KAASO in Uganda.

When a young student asked Emma to sponsor his education, she not only agreed but went far beyond, founding the Kiwi Sponsorships program that has since funded some 70 children in Uganda.

She's also the volunteer coordinator for KAASO.

The book chronicles Emma's journey from well-meaning volunteer to being the architect of a bridge between the international sailing community and a humble East African village.

Emma lives in Auckland with her husband, America's Cup skipper and Olympic gold medallist Nathan Outteridge, and their two children.

Nathan, formerly from Wangi, is currently skippering the Japan SailGP Team on the international circuit, sitting in third place on the ladder. He also provided expert television commentary for this year's America's Cup series.

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