Grandmother ‘Kit’ Denison came up with the first ‘country kitchen’ galley for yachts in the 1980s.Įlectric boating pioneer Gustav Hasselskog of Candela says his goal was “to change the industry – removing the dependence on fossil fuels in boating.” After looking at all of the possibilities in electric boating and studying the engineering and physics of the challenge he decided the best chance to prove the benefits of electric boats was to make one that flies.
His grandson Bob, who heads up Denison and transitioned the company to a yacht brokerage in 2009 says Frank “was an awesome boat builder” who also developed the first turbine-powered yacht in 1973. It is somewhat fitting that Denison is the US firm taking on the Candela 7, as both companies were founded by men inspired by the excitement of doing things differently and grabbing opportunities others might overlook.įrank Denison started out by repairing and reselling boats bought on spec and is credited with installing the first diesel engines in a yacht in the mid 1930s.
They have delivered 12 boats to customers in 6 countries and their boatyard just outside of Stockholm is in full swing with a goal of making 30 Candela 7s this year (see specs at bottom of page).
The Candela 7 first went into serial production in late 2018, but the company’s order book really started to fill up when it made a big impression (you can’t really say a hydrofoiling boat made a big splash!) at BOOT Dusseldorf this past January. With a range of 50 nautical miles (92 k) in 22 knots, she glides across the water quickly, cleanly, and efficiently.” Aim to sell 30 electric flying boats for 2020įor the US market, Denison said that what attracted them to the Candela is that “She is the first electric boat to rival similar fossil fuel equivalents. We refer to the Candela as an electric flying boat because it uses hydrofoils – kind of underwater wings – to allow the hull to ‘fly’ above the water, similar to the hydrofoiling SeaBubbles electric water taxi which has received so much attention. The brokerage was established in Florida in 1948 as the Broward yacht manufacturing company while Candela is definitely the ‘new kid on the block’ – founded in 2014 and launching its revolutionary Candela Speedboat in 2018.
The Candela 7 electric flying boat from Sweden has joined the sales roster of Denison Yachting, one of the largest yacht brokers in the US.