Video: Swedish flying boat may help save Venice

By Marc Allen

Wave erosion or “moto ondoso” has been a threat to the foundations of Venice’s historic buildings for decades. Now Swedish company, Candela, believes it has a solution.

The Candela C-7 skims along on computer-controlled hydrofoils which lift its hull completely out of the water, leaving a wake less than 5cm high — comparable to that of a rowing boat.

Candela’s Maria Rohman says “the boat has five sensors that read the water and speak to the computer system in the boat and the computer system tells the foils to move and they move 100 times a second, back and forth and diagonal to keep the boat stable. So when you are up flying it takes off at about 15 knots.”