This odd looking boat has been seen around Anacortes Washington recently. No one knows anything about it. The men who have been on board won’t talk about it. They don’t seem to be military, (no uniforms) but remain completely closed mouthed.
Anyone here know anything?
Thread on this. Here it is: Stange experimental boat
From DoRat’s link:
Thank you. I had a vague memory of having seen the pictures before. It must have been in that thread.
Now, it’s become a rumor at the large Aircraft manufacturing plant in or around this area that it’s a new project from their military arm. :dubious:
I can try to fight a bit of ignorance there, but it seems to self generate faster then they can build aircraft.
Good cite on this:
"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."
And here’s that link: http://www.antrimdesign.com/
Interesting! 
“Inflatable power cat”? Sounds like some sort of sex toy.
Of course, if you listen in the right way, just about anything sounds like some sort of sex toy.
I still think this is either a) a movie prop, or b) part of Dr. Evil’s equipment. 
Speaking of things that sound like sex toys…
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/01/19/BAGE7NLI001.DTL
It’s designed for many things including as a long-range cargo carrier. The crew compartment can sail off on its own.
With that cargo capacity, it should work well for drug running; coke, heroin etc. etc.
I wonder how fast it is?
The owner says it’s “faster than I can walk”. Not impressive, but maybe he’s just being secretive.
Well, it is currently running on a pair of 355 h.p. marine diesels and rep[otedly can go “thousands of miles.” That suggests speeds less than sizzling.
Of course, if range only needed to be “hundreds” of miles, I suppose the power plants could be swapped out for something with a bit more ooomph. That, of course, would be subject to the ability of the hulls to stand up to greater speed–something we won’t know until Conti begins to market it in earnest.