here is a little info on the flying spider....
Gazette staff
This unusual catamaran was spotted in Sequim Bay last week, drawing many phone calls from curious Gazette readers. Since the boat appeared in Sequim, the Gazette has been doing research on the boat, and this is what we found:
According to the Internet site sailinganarchy.com, it is a 100-foot catamaran built in Anacortes, Wash. for San Francisco explorer and scientist Ugo Conti’s company Marine Advanced Research. A photo of the craft out of the water is posted on the site.
The “inflatable power cat” was reportedly designed by Jim Antrim, a boat designer based in California whose boats have won numerous awards. Antrim’s Internet site, antrimdesign.com, shows a computer image of the catamaran, but no photographs, and reports that final design is underway.
The small, white-hulled craft that was spotted tethered to the large craft resembles another small catamaran of Conti’s called Aria, according to the Explorers Club Northern California Chapter’s Oct. 2002 newsletter.
The newsletter reported Conti said he was “embarked on the design of a vessel which will allow safe and speedy ocean travel. Just how, remains his secret, for now.”
The mysterious and publicly unnamed large catamaran seen in Sequim Bay * which two Port Angeles boaters reported had the word “wing” etched on one side * may be the physical manifestation of this secret.
Marine Advanced Research applied for a U.S. patent in 2003 that appears to describe the craft. A pair of flexible hulls are coupled to a cabin between and above the hulls, allowing them to independently follow the surface of the water, states the patent abstract posted on freepatentsonline.com, while motors hinged to the back of the hulls maintain propulsion through the water even if the stern of one or both hulls have lifted out of the water when crossing swells.
If anyone is interested in seeing other pics from my trips you can check them out here.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/oceanec...7594052030503/
He's just showing off.
