The hydrofoil is very similar to the hovercraft, because it moves in the boundary between air and water. It avoids drag by lifting itself out of the water, using wing-shaped structures called hydrofoils that extend into the water from the craft. These hydrofoils function like the wings on a plane, creating lift and flying the hull above the surface of the water.

The first person to work on this idea was a French priest, Ramus, in the mid-1800s. However, there was no engine that could supply sufficient thrust. In the 1890s, another Frenchman, the Count de Lambert, tried and failed to make a working model using a gasoline engine.

The first successful hydrofoil boats were created in the early 1900s. Enrico Forlanini, an Italian airship designer, built a small boat with hydrofoils in 1905. He showed Alexander Graham Bell a later model that impressed the famous American. Bell...