Hysucat Marine
Malan Conradie is recognized as one of the world’s most innovative boat designers, particularly relating to catamaran/hydrofoil technology. His early involvement was with the military, where he was commissioned to develop a water tunnel test facility to study air flow over missile wings and this paved the way for his 15-year involvement with Professor Gunter Hoppe, the world authority on hydrofoil technology.
As a prodigy of Professor Hoppe, the head of Marine Dynamics at the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa, Malan Conradie was involved with the design and development of hydrofoil supported catamarans.
The hulls and hydrofoils were designed and proven in the test tank facility at the university and sea trials were carried out to evaluate the hydrofoil concept; this led to competing in offshore powerboat events where it proved its superior design by outperforming the competition. Malan Conradie did the technical design and racing analysis on the project as well as the project management for the Hysucat’s development, which included design work on the interior and exterior of the craft together with hydrofoils designed by Professor Hoppe.
This collaboration resulted in the birth of the original HYSUCAT – “HYdrofoil SUpported CATamaran” which became a landmark in the history of hydrofoil technology and led to a new breed of hull designs that took the marine industry by storm.
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