Nautic 2017: SEAir win 2017 Innovation Awards for foiling RIB

Richard Forest, founder of Lorient-based SEAir was awarded the coveted 2017 Innovation Award at the Nautic Paris Boat Show before a large crowd of journalists and public on Friday evening.

The award was presented to SEAir in recognition of two years of hard work spent finding solutions for both power and sail boats to be able to fly on foils. By enabling the first rigid inflatable boat to foil, SEAir is paving the way for a revolution in the world of motor boating.

Both the public and professional recognition has been astounding. Comfort combined with speed and almost perfect gliding sensations are great assets for motor boating.

The Innovation Prize was awarded for the Zodiac Pro @ 550, the first RIB in the world to be equipped with foils to make it “fly”, a popular choice with the public.

The recognition of simplicity

"I am very pleased to receive the award for product innovation. This is a great recognition for the work we have done since the company was founded two years ago. This prize will hopefully help us to not only raise funds, but to make us more credible for future investors, and help to reinforce the system we have created which will hopefully allow us to become more known internationally.

We are currently finalising the configuration of our first flying RIB to go to market, which is very promising. This award also recognises the simplicity of a very complex system. There will be just one button on the dashboard for the RIB driver that will allow the boat to foil safely. Our product is technologically very advanced but also very suited to the everyday boater. I think this prize rewards exactly that” confided Richard Forest, founder of the company SEAir.

This important event was also an opportunity for SEAir to announce a partnership with ZODIAC by unveiling a joint project on the Avon GT670 "Flying RIB” by SEAir. The latter will be equipped with retractable and made to measure SEAir foils.