Tringa, the self-driving boat, from land to sea

(Perros-Guirec) On the beach, phone in hand, the curious immortalize this strange boat of 6.50 m, which, coming from the road, advances on its three-wheel drive before sliding into the sea and moving away from the shore: Tringa is the first "road boat" approved in France.

Posted on April 10, 2021 at 11:45 a.m.

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France Media Agency

"It's a superposition of three technologies, naval, road and aeronautical", explains its designer Daniel Guirec, an engineer by training.

A real kid's dream, this boat: sit behind the wheel, take the road to the shore where, without moving from your seat, you let yourself slide into the sea or the lake for a ride or a fishing trip. "You just have to swap your seatbelt, which is compulsory on the road, for the lifejacket", rejoices Serge Daude, one of the first buyers of Tringa.

"I bought it for the comfort of use, its practical side [...] it's really a revolutionary design," he says. “It's so simple that you can leave even if you decide to do so at the last minute”.

To travel on the road at a maximum speed of 16 km/h, Tringa, named after a sea bird, is equipped with indicators, headlights and taillights, a laminated glass windscreen and, of course, seat belts.

like a car

On the road, “it drives exactly like a car. It is very manoeuvrable, it has a very short turning radius and it goes everywhere”, observes Serge Daude.

On the water, nothing differentiates it from a conventional ship. Like the landing gear of an airplane, the wheels retract into their watertight box and its aluminum hull cuts through the waves, propelled by a powerful motor.

“At sea, it's a real speedboat. It has the potential [...] we quickly reach 35 knots” - almost 70 km/h with its standard 150 horsepower engine, confirms Serge Daude. "And, with its touch screens, you switch from the road function to the sea function just with your finger".

At rest, the hull nestles on the sand where the wheels almost disappear, because the boat is equipped with hydropneumatic suspension, as famous sedans have been for years.

Forget the constraints

"The idea is to give freedom of navigation to everyone", explains Guirec Daniel.

Because the usual route can put off navigation enthusiasts. "Constraints to get a berth on the pontoon, constraints of tenders or launching on congested holds in summer, the constraint of going to park your trailer God knows where, then picking it up on the way back" , lists Jean Bocher, former officer of the merchant navy and president of the association of yachtsmen of the port of Saint-Quay-Portrieux (Côtes-d'Armor).

The 1030 rings (parking spaces moored to the pontoons, editor's note) of this deep-water port, one of the most popular on the north coast of Brittany, very popular with the British, are occupied and the waiting list has some 400 requests, specifies Mr. Bocher. The yearly rental of a ring, for a 6.50 m boat, however, costs 1600 euros, a sum saved when the boat can return home.

Going out, "it's so restrictive that it ends up spoiling the pleasure and sometimes even cutting off the desire to go out", argues Guirec Daniel. "Before, when I spoke of a rolling boat, people did not understand what I was saying... Today, when they see it, people have a revelation, because it makes sense", smiles this affable man , himself a yachtsman and child of a family of sailors.

It took almost ten years to bring the project, conceived in 2011, to fruition. In the workshop located in Lannion, eight employees assemble each unit like a puzzle before finishing it to the customer's taste. For the most part, the components are manufactured by around thirty companies in the region, some of which have had to recruit and train to adapt to this new production, notes Guirec Daniel.

"From your garage to the open sea without moving from your captain's seat", boasts the advertising brochure. But the dream has a price: 128,500 euros.