Latest news with #hydrofoil
CTV News
6 days ago
- Automotive
- CTV News
Sustainable showcase in Orillia to feature the future of boating
From the dock to Lake Couchiching, the future of boating will be on full display this weekend at the Sustainable Orillia Green Innovative Showcase. ENVGO is showcasing its fully electric hydrofoil prototype called the NV1. Mike Peasgood, CEO of ENVGO, said the hydrofoil is the main principal the electrification. 'The main principle behind that technology is a wing which sits underneath the water and it lifts the hull out of the water,' said Peasgood. 'That gives us some incredible efficiency and performance which really makes that electrification practical.' The sleek vessel promises to go farther and faster than gas-powered boats, with hydrofoils that lift it above the water for a smoother, more efficient ride. 'That's really the big differentiator beyond the zero emissions,' said Peasgood. 'We're not polluting the environment but we're also giving an overall better experience of that smooth flight over water and really showcase what that future of marine technology is going to look like.' Danny Epstein is the vice president of the Sustainable Orillia Green Innovation Showcase. The event runs Saturday July 26 from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m and Sunday 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. He hopes people who attend the showcase have a better understanding of sustainability after walking through the grounds. 'We can't keep growing and we can't be dependent on growth all the time. and people need to understand that there are limits to growth,' said Epstein. 'We live in at a time where, obviously there's lots of evidence of climate change.' Fully electric hydrofoil prototype Fully electric hydrofoil prototype watercraft on display in Orillia, Ont., on Fri., July 25, 2025. (Source: Luke Simard/CTV News) The showcase continues to grow year over year and more than 60 electric vehicles will be on display along with a fleet of EV boats. 'Boats that you do see here are new technology, particularly the ENVGO boat,' said Epstein. 'That's new Canadian technology, and it's clean technology.' Vendors like M-Oceans participating in the showcase say that electric will be the future of boating. 'Yes, 100% sustainability is where it's all headed towards, we see vessels from small inflatable dinghies to sailboats to even some larger power boats being converted, very actively today,' said Anatolii Shkliaruk, founder of M-Oceans. With functional benefits continuing to increase on EV vessels. 'Sailing off into the sunset with no noise, no gas, no clouds of smoke, and quiet,' said Shkliaruk. 'It aligns with the philosophy of sailing and boating in general and all the harbors and the small lakes are then clean with no spills. There's no oil and marine wildlife is preserved.' With a small fraction of electric boats in the water today, Peasgood believes there will be a shift coming. 'That's because it takes so much power to push the boat through the water. What we're building here, is the technology which gives us the efficiency so that electric becomes practical,' said Peasgood. 'I think, inevitably, we'll transition to electric, and this is a technology that we need to make that happen.' The showcase is free attend and will have activities for kids including face painting.
Forbes
07-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Why Stars Like Nadal And Brady Are Betting On E1's Electric Raceboat
Rafael Nadal and Will Smith with Rodi Basso at the Lake Como GP Rafael Nadal. Tom Brady. LeBron James. Will Smith. Steve Aoki. What do they have in common? Some are the greatest athletes. Others, iconic names in global entertainment. But they also all own teams in one of motorsport's boldest frontiers: E1, the world's first all-electric hydrofoil powerboat championship. At first glance, it may seem like a fever dream. Sci-fi speedboats gliding above the water, backed by a rotating cast of celebrities. But underneath the sheen of star-studded ownership is a championship that is quietly rewriting the playbook of what sport is. Co-founded by former Formula 1 engineer Rodi Basso and motorsport entrepreneur Alejandro Agag, the sport was built with an aim to electrify the marine industry. But in its mission, it has also made inclusion a non-negotiable with each team fielding a male and female pilot in their lineup. Sure, it's another racing league. But in many ways it's also a case study in how visibility, values, and velocity can fuse into a new kind of sporting empire. The question is: how did a startup series about electric boats become a magnet for celebrity investors and why are so many of them buying in now? Rafael Nadal with Team Rafa pilots (Cris Lazzaraga and Tom Chiappe) Why Celebrities Over Corporate Investment? In new sporting ventures, the phone calls always go to the usual suspects: brands, manufacturers and corporations. But E1 directed that energy elsewhere. 'The reason why we went to talents in sports and entertainment is because the OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers) in the marine industry don't really see a sport platform as a marketing tool,' said Basso who is now serving as the CEO. As an engineer by trade, Basso sees the world through a lens of efficiency, not just in the boat's performance, but in how the championship breaks into public consciousness. He said, 'As a young organization, one of the first KPI (key performance indicator) you need to pursue is the media reach and by joining forces with talents, we can claim to have 1.1 billion followers in digital channels…so it's a massive advantage.' But how were celebrities convinced by a venture that, at first glance, perhaps looked more like a tech experiment than a sports franchise? The answer lies in three things: purpose, proximity and potential. It's purpose being a motorsport series that happens to be developing sustainable technologies and having gender parity embedded in its very structure. Proximity because many of its investors already live the coastal lifestyle the sport embodies. 'They are all very passionate about living the life of the coastal areas," said Basso. 'They all have boats, and they all go to amazing places of the world, and they want to make sure that, also their future generation, their kids can enjoy that in the future.' And potential because an early-stage league backed by Saudi's Public Investment Fund and led by former engineers, people who have worked in motorsport, and entrepreneurs hints at serious financial upside. It looks viable. As of now, two E1 teams have been trading their license at already five times their original value. A Championship Built For Parity In motorsport, gender inclusion is often a retroactive fix. E1, however, built it into its architecture. Not as mere tokenism but with conviction. 'I absolutely refrain from calling inclusivity a strategy," said Basso. "Because when you call it strategy, it means that there will be some managers with a checklist trying to tick boxes and make it look like it's working or something. We don't. We mentioned this, but we don't claim it too much, because this is just our natural belief in how an organization should work.' Mashael Alobaidan after winning the Dubrovnik GP One of the clearest proofs of that conviction is Pilot Mashael Alobaidan. She hails from Saudi Arabia and is currently leading the E1 standings alongside her co-pilot Dani Clos for Aoki Racing Team. 'It's refreshing and it's powerful,' she said. 'We race not as the female pilot or the male pilot but as equals. And that really changes the game. It opens the door for true performance to shine through.' The RaceBird Team Rafa The boat itself, the RaceBird, reflects this philosophy. Sleek, silent and hydrofoiled skimming the sea, designed for finesse not just brute force. 'You need a lot of emotional intelligence,' Basso said. Sensitivity to conditions. A read of the race, not just reaction. And that, he argued, often gives female pilots an edge. 'It's [emotional intelligence] one of the most underrated superpowers an athlete can have,' said Alobaidan. 'Last race, I was fifth…I had two options. It's either I give up or I say, 'You know what? Keep on pushing.' Keep on pushing every lap until you overcome and overtake.'' E1's insistence on visibility is personal for her too. 'I received many messages from young not only girls but boys as well in Saudi,' she said. 'Winning in Jeddah and just on that podium…looking at the amount of Saudis and young kids and the way they look at Team Aoki and how their eyes sparkled really touched me.' 'It's really important aspect of what I do in life is to inspire the young generation because we are capable. We have the talent, we have the skills… it's just that tiny push for them to see a role model, someone among them, just like them, achieving that, then this is enough for them to go after the dream,' added Alobaidan. The Future The E1 grid With celebrity owners lending their platforms, engineers crafting silent, sustainable speed, and pilots like Mashael Alobaidan turning representation into record-setting performance, the championship is carving out space in an industry often stubborn to change. 'E1 is a sport with purpose…It's important to say that sustainability is not a stealth communication strategy, but it's a an opportunity for value creation,' said Basso. The long-term vision is ambitious: grow from nine to twelve teams, expand the calendar to 15 global races, and bring on the league's first female team owner. E1 isn't just betting on their RaceBirds to drive investment. They're betting on visibility shaping perception. Betting on the right machine. The right mission. The right message. Reimagining the sport as not just a vehicle for entertainment but for impact.
CTV News
17-06-2025
- Business
- CTV News
Hydrofoil passenger ferry could be coming to B.C.
The Artemis EF-12 Escape, a hydrofoil ferry produced by Artemis Technologies in Belfast, conducts a demo off of Victoria's Inner Harbour.
CTV News
17-06-2025
- Business
- CTV News
Hydrofoil passenger ferry could be coming to B.C. in the near future
The Artemis EF-12 Escape, a hydrofoil ferry produced by Artemis Technologies in Belfast, conducts a demo off of Victoria's Inner Harbour. The Artemis EF-12 Escape, a hydrofoil ferry produced by Artemis Technologies in Belfast, conducts a demo off of Victoria's Inner Harbour. The Artemis EF-12 Escape took to the waters off Victoria's Inner Harbour Monday, and could one day be the future of passenger-only ferry service in B.C. It's fully electric and equipped with hydrofoils, or wings, underneath its hull, lifting the vessel out of the water while at cruising speed. The hydrofoils dramatically reduce its drag while travelling through the water, allowing it to reach speeds of up to 30 knots. That's double the pace of a conventional ferry, all while using half the energy. FRS Clipper has partnered with Victoria-based consulting group Greenline Ferries in bringing Artemis Technologies and the Escape to B.C. The group is looking at the feasibility of using this technology in the Pacific Northwest. 'This could be a game changer for the number of routes that we can supply to British Columbians,' said Mark Collins, CEO of FRS Clipper. Collins said the technology is sustainable and cost-effective, with the price of a vessel being comparable to the cost of a conventional ferry, although it's operating costs are much less. FRS Clipper is considering an expansion between Bowen Island, Gibsons and downtown Vancouver. If that were to prove successful, the company said a route between Colwood's Beachlands development and Victoria's Inner Harbour would not be out of the question. 'We call them shortcuts, anywhere where you can connect the heart of one community to the heart of another community, that's the opportunity for a passenger-only ferry,' said Callum Campbell, CEO of Greenline Ferries. The Artemis EF-12 Escape is a water taxi version that could be configured to carry up to 30 passengers. FRS Clipper is exploring purchasing the EF-24 Passenger version that is capable of carrying up to 150 passengers, which Artemis will be rolling out later this year. 'It is a little small for our projections on the Victoria to Seattle route, however that doesn't say that one day there could be two or even three operating alongside each other providing more frequency and more choices,' said Collins. The seemingly floating vessel's technology could offer a smoother ride in rough waters with a lighter environmental footprint.
New York Times
09-06-2025
- Business
- New York Times
When SailGP came to New York City: Spectators, ‘storytelling' and star-studded investors
In New York City, there is never any shortage of sports and entertainment options. This weekend alone, the New York Yankees hosted the Boston Red Sox in front of a sellout crowd and more than 100,000 people attended the Governors Ball music festival. The battle for market share has rarely felt so fierce, yet a short ferry ride over the water to Governors Island and another live sports event was in demand: SailGP. Just under 10,000 people filled out a grandstand — at $85 (£63) per ticket for adults and $43 for kids — to watch a sport growing in appeal and increasingly marketed as the Formula One of the seas. Advertisement The product is increasingly straightforward: 12 nations compete in 12 destinations for $12.8 million worth of prize money across the season. They race in identical hydrofoil catamaran boats, which can go at speeds of over 60 miles per hour. During this weekend's event, racers navigated rainy conditions and choppy waters on the Hudson River, with the skyscrapers of Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty painting a picture-perfect backdrop. Spain took their second consecutive event win in the difficult conditions. After finishing the Fleet Races in third with 38 points, Los Gallos held off New Zealand and France to take home the victory in the three-boat final. 'Sailing used to be white triangles on a blue background way out at sea,' says Andy Thompson, SailGP's managing director. 'But that is very far from what SailGP is today. It's a racing property.' The past fortnight has offered further evidence that SailGP is captivating investors. First, the Italian team was acquired by the women-led investment firm Muse Capital at a valuation of $45 million in a consortium that includes the Hollywood actress Anne Hathaway. This represented considerable growth for teams that were selling for between $5m-10m only two years ago. The former Milwaukee Bucks owner Marc Lasry has previously led a group which acquired the U.S. team for $35 million. In March, Real Madrid forward Kylian Mbappe bought into the France SailGP team. If we needed any more evidence that Sail GP is the en-vogue sporting investment, this came last week when Ryan Reynolds added to his growing sporting portfolio by teaming up with Hugh Jackman — yes, that's Deadpool and Wolverine — as the pair became controlling owners of the Australian SailGP team. The Aussies, who have now rebranded as the Bonds Flying Roos — yes, that's Bonds underwear as the title sponsor — won the first three Sail GP championships and were runners-up last season. Advertisement Their star sailor Tom Slingsby, an Olympic gold medallist and CEO of the Aussie SailGP team, says he became aware of visits to SailGP events by Reynolds' team at Maximum Effort, the production company and marketing agency founded by the actor ('maximum effort' being the catchphrase of Reynolds' movie Deadpool). Tentative discussions have already started about a possible docuseries, following on from Reynolds' investment in Welsh soccer club Wrexham and Colombian soccer team La Equidad. 'They bring star power,' Slingsby tells The Athletic. 'To have Deadpool and Wolverine, they're the 'it' people right now. They also bring an element of storytelling. We're seeing what Ryan's done with Wrexham. They're just going to be fun owners. Having chatted with Ryan, he is incredibly funny and he's going to fit really well with our team. 'Importantly, every discussion with them is, 'What do you guys need to do to be successful?'. Obviously there's talk of ways to promote our team in the league, but it all comes second to us being successful on the water. I was obviously pretty strong on us being athletes first, and if we can be entertaining for the public as well, that's great, but we want to win on the water.' The U.S. team's ownership group is similarly stacked with big-time investors and star names. Mike Buckley, the CEO and on-boat strategist for the U.S. team, says: 'We wanted the most diverse ownership group that we could possibly find. We want people who don't think like us and have different areas of expertise. 'I can pick up the phone and call Marc Lasry, who runs one of the most successful private equity firms in the world (Avenue Capital). He won the NBA championship and took the Bucks from the back to the front and the valuation from a few hundred million to three or four billion.' The U.S. ownership also features founding Uber engineer Ryan Mckillen and his wife Margaret, the Resy co-founder Gary Vaynerchuk, Hollywood actress Issa Rae, the NFL's DeAndre Hopkins and boxer Deontay Wilder. For sailors, SailGP provides game-changing security by providing year-round events beyond the America's Cup and Olympic Games. Advertisement 'Sailing used to jump on the radar every four years and then it just disappeared off the mainstream public's vision,' says Slingsby. 'After an Olympics, when you finish your event, you'd just be sitting there and there's no funding, you're out of a job for a while and you're waiting for the phone to ring. 'When I've been between Olympics, I've had other jobs — bartending and boat building, all sorts of things. You're doing anything you can to keep the money coming in. 'In 10 years, we'll definitely be seeing SailGP still here and racing in consistent events. It's going to be the backbone of sailing. It's five years old now, a lot of people were saying that it would be around for a year or two and disappear.' Founded by the billionaire Larry Ellison, the co-founder of tech firm Oracle, SailGP is discovering traction in what their executives describe as the crossover market between lifestyle and experiential sports. Slingsby notes there are markets such as New Zealand where the fandom is more intense, and athletes are approached at hotels and when out for dinner. SailGP's executive Thompson says the event's ratings 'regularly average around 20 million dedicated viewers around the world.' In the U.S., CBS and its Paramount+ streaming platform broadcast the event. Their highest-rated events — which bring in around 1.8 million viewers — have been intentionally scheduled to follow NFL games in order to capture audiences from America's most popular sport. SailGP's chief revenue officer Ben Johnson bristles at any suggestion sailing is a 'niche' sport, but the locations of some races — St. Tropez in France, Abu Dhabi and Dubai in the Middle East, or Manhattan — do lend themselves to an exclusive in-person audience. The aim is a vast broadcast audience and a hot-ticket live event. Johnson says they are taking learnings from events such as the Kentucky Derby, or the Indy 500, as well as F1, and 'leagues who are moving from traditional sports operators to more sports entertainment and even just broadly entertainment properties.' By attracting celebrity investors (or employing DJ Khaled as the league's 'Chief Hype Officer'), SailGP want to make their events, much like F1, a place to see and be seen. Advertisement Johnson says: 'It is very intentional. There are brands like (European soccer champions) Paris Saint-Germain, where they are more of a lifestyle brand than they are a traditional sports team. They are a perfect example of where we see the opportunity in the global sports space. 'We don't need to be a season-ticketed event. We don't need local media rights to validate our audience growth or our revenue model. We think the demand right now from an experiential standpoint is the highest it's ever been and will continue to grow. So we're focused on new fanbases and inspiring the next generation of lifestyle sports fans. 'People (are) looking for social, communal, family-friendly, brand safe moments where they can bring people together. And I think we're the perfect backdrop for that. It's new, it's novel, fast, you know, all the things that you need to really capture people's attention.' Sponsors are certainly discovering the appeal. SailGP's title sponsor is Rolex, but across the league and teams there are now investments or partnerships from sovereign wealth funds, such as Mubadala Capital (of Abu Dhabi), as well as Emirates airline sponsoring the league and Red Bull partnering with the Italian team, while the U.S. team have sponsorships with Tommy Hilfiger, Amazon, and T-Mobile. The British team is title-sponsored by Emirates and has a partnership with JP Morgan, while Deutsche Bank sponsors the German side. 'I would expect next year you (will) see all the teams somewhere close to commercial profitability,' says Buckley. When asked about profitability, Johnson said SailGP does not disclose its financials, but it is 'ahead of our own internal targets.' The growing investment in the sport is also accompanied by increased jeopardy. Only Spain have won more than one event this season, which may be one of the advantages of sailors racing on identical boats — meaning winning and losing come down to conditions on the day and the performances and skill of those on board. That is not to say there have not been challenges. May's SailGP event was supposed to be held in Rio de Janeiro for the first time but it was cancelled after a defect was found in some of the fleet's wingsails. Australia's wingsail collapsed in San Francisco in a moment Slingsby called a 'scary situation.' The 12 boats were all back on the start line in New York. With 12 teams and money swishing around the sport, talk invariably turns to expansion. Russell Coutts, SailGP CEO and an Olympic gold medallist with New Zealand, has previously spoken about expanding the number of events per season to as high as 20 or 24. Plenty of nations remain untapped, notably Saudi Arabia and Qatar, which has poured money into sports elsewhere. Advertisement 'I think the demand right now exceeds 12 teams,' Johnson says. 'We have an opportunity for us to announce expansion teams, continue to look at markets that we think are really additive.' Buckley says 'balance' is key, concluding: 'There are plenty of countries out there that aren't represented currently in the league. It would be great for all of us.'
