Somewhere between the categories of Submarine, Airship and hydrofoil is this creation by French designer Stephane Rousson. Using hydrofoils and a helium filled balloon, it’s capable of three times the windspeed and is apparently going to take its inventor to the French Island of Corsica, a distance of 100 miles.

Of course that’s not all he intends to do with the Aerosail, Rousson says the Aerosail might one day take passengers!

“I live in Nice, and the island of Corsica is a beautiful place, so why not attempt a crossing? If we want this invention to be useful one day, we have to prove that we can do an actual crossing: it’s the only way. In the future, we might be able to bring some passengers on the crossing, or even make it a sport… Who knows!”

Now with the backing of Red Bull, the project has undertaken sea trials and is well on the way of nearing completion. Well, complete enough to make the crossing anyway! This project will be the inventors third major undertaking since deciding to abandon a career in the airlines back in 2001. He’s already made a pedal powered airship which he attempted to cross the English Channel with, and a muscle powered submarine called the ‘Scubster’ which won him an award for innovation during the 2011 Submarine race (yep, they have those).

How does it work? Well the hydrofoil stays in the water obviously, with controls to steer it from the airship above. It’s tethered to the hydrofoil and suspended underneath is the skipper/pilot/inventor in a harness. He controls the angle the Aerosail sails to the wind, as well as his height and of course the GoPro to film it all.

It looks about as crazy as it sounds, but this could be the future of sailing!

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