SeaBubbles, created three years ago with the objective of the “fly boats,” is going to change hands. “We have received an offer to purchase Seabubbles by three investors from sweden, switzerland and the united states and the families Bringdal and Thébault, who hold 65% of the capital have accepted,” announces le Figaro, Alain Thébault, founder of SeaBubbles, with Anders Bringdal. The two men “will remain at the controls as long as investors want”. In its current form, SeaBubbles is “a society too artisanal for the project that we want to wear”, says Alain Thébault. The pedigree of the two co-founders, record holder for speed hydrofoil for Alain Thébault and windsurfing for Anders Bringdal, is atypical. They now prefer to rely on teams more experienced in exercising industrial-to continue the adventure. Their investors are industrialists and Family offices, who want to “stay in the long term.”
as the two co-founders have already proposed a second concept, the Flybus. Designed on the same principle as the SeaBubbles, it should quickly see the day, with the particularity of being able to carry up to forty-nine passengers. “The same pool of investors has proposed to us to create the Flybus, to launch a boat that can accommodate up to forty-nine passengers,” says Alain Thébault. This perspective was motivated to sell the company. He is convinced that the future is to transit the river.
Raw commands
The first Bubbles or SeaBubbles, boats are able to take five or six passengers, and whose main characteristic is to sail on foils. These work a little like airplane wings, since they allow the boat to fly above the water (only the foils are in contact with the water). The advantage is to navigate without generating eddies, which degrade shorelines and disturb the inhabitants. The SeaBubbles are also equipped with electric motors. The first four have been ordered by the group Baja Ferries, which operates in Miami and Mexico and will be delivered in the month of July. Another order for ten SeaBubbles was passed by a large French group, which does not communicate further on the subject. And other customers have expressed their interest for these strange machines, including the port of Rotterdam.
The Bubbles are sold 200.000 euros a piece, “but the operating cost, because of the design and of the electric propulsion is much less than a classic boat,” explains Alain Thébault. The total operating cost would be two to three times lower than that of a shuttle classic.
Alain Thébault goes on inveighing against the “oa” administrative French. In Paris, the speed of navigation is limited, which makes the use of river shuttles much less relevant. It has obtained a provisional authorization to conduct tests to 25 knots, and after there should be bill…. A time much too long for two speed enthusiasts. “What I didn’t get to Paris in two years, I’ve gotten in a day in Miami. There are areas of “no waves” that allow us to navigate to 30 or 35 knots,” says Alain Thébault.
