Media Advisory: Media Invited to Ride Experimental Vessel Sea Flyer During San Diego and San Francisco Fleet Weeks

Arlington , Va -- The Office of Naval Research (ONR) invites the media to tour and ride the Sea Flyer, a 160-foot, 320-ton technology demonstrator vessel whose underwater "lifting body" technology provides an extremely stable high-speed ride, even in rough seas. Navatek, Ltd, of Hawaii designed the technology and modified an existing vessel to evaluate the sea keeping and load carrying capacity of a vessel with an underwater lifting body.

As the vessel’s speed increases, a portion of the hull is lifted above the water’s surface allowing it to reach higher speeds and seemingly "fly" over/through the water. When the vessel is "flying", Navatek's Advanced Ride Control System, incorporated in the underwater lifting body and underwater aft crossfoil, provides the stable ride.

*Interested media must contact ONR to reserve a space on the vessel. High resolution images of Sea Flyer are available for download at www.onr.navy.mil/media in the image gallery. B-roll is available in DVD-format is available upon request.

San Diego Schedule:
Departing from Southwest Marine

• Friday, October 1

1 p.m. to 5 p.m.

• Saturday, October 2

8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. – Sea Flyer will participate in the San Diego Sea ’n Air Parade

• Sunday, October 3

8 a.m. to noon

                1 p.m. to 5 p.m.

San Francisco Schedule:
Departing from Pier 27 along the Embarcadero

• Friday, October 8

1 p.m. to 5 p.m.

• Saturday, October 9

8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. – Sea Flyer will participate in the San Francisco Parade of Ships

• Sunday, October 10

8 a.m. to noon

                1 p.m. to 5 p.m.