Syroco, a sailing boat designed for a low-carbon future

A Marseille-based start-up aims to make maritime transport more virtuous. How do they do it? With a boat towed by a wing like a kitesurf. #TheyAreTheSolution

It looks like a small plane and yet it is a boat. An incredible machine with which its designer hopes to exceed 150 Km/h and thus pulverize the sailing speed record. This “speed craft”, still in the state of a 1/3 scale prototype, is equipped with a sail similar to that of a kitesurf and an inverted foil to keep it on the water. Without this technological innovation, this half-boat, half-plane craft would fly away. The key element of this innovative concept is the kite, which allows to concentrate in one point all the forces of the wind that rushes into the wing.

Inventing low-carbon transport
We owe this revolutionary boat to a French kitesurfer among the most titled. Alex Caizergues from Marseille has 15 years of competition, 6 world records and 4 world championship titles. “I have achieved many feats throughout my career, I wanted to go further and make my contribution to the environment in my daily activity.

To go further than the sporting feat, this speed record holder has founded his start-up, surrounded by a high-level team of 17 people, engineers and naval architects, all of whom are passionate about sailing. The objective of this young Marseille-based nugget is to help decarbonize maritime transport. The aim of this young Marseille-based company is to help decarbonize maritime transport and prove to the world that it is possible to reach high speeds using wind, a clean and free energy source. “It is certain that tomorrow we will have ships that will reduce their energy consumption. They may have sails or foils” explains Alex Caizergues.

Next step for the entrepreneur, the launch of the final 7-meter version in the coming months. A prototype with which Alex Caizergues will tackle the speed record that he hopes to beat “before the 2024 Olympics”.