REGENT Craft, the manufacturer of all-electric seagliders for sustainable maritime mobility, announced today that it has received approval from the U.S. Coast Guard for REGENT's Navigational Safety Risk Assessment. This approval authorizes the Rhode Island-based company to begin testing its full-scale seaglider prototype in Narragansett Bay and Rhode Island Sound.

The assessment included a third-party risk analysis of navigational safety and review of environmental concerns and economic impacts from testing. REGENT consulted more than 20 local stakeholders, including the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management, harbor masters, marine pilots, the U.S. Navy, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), sailing organizations, and environmental groups, to ensure their concerns were addressed.

After review at the sector, division, and national level, the U.S. Coast Guard approved REGENT’s assessment with no modifications. This assessment and approval also will act as a model for future commercial seaglider approvals in other U.S. waterways and around the globe.

“U.S. Coast Guard approval of REGENT’s Navigational Safety Risk Assessment marks a significant step in bringing us closer to seaglider prototype testing with humans on board,” said Ted Lester, VP, Certification, REGENT. “The assessment reflects our commitment to ensuring the highest safety standards and remaining responsive to community concerns.”

‍Certification Journey

This U.S. Coast Guard review on seaglider prototype testing is part of a larger collaboration between REGENT and the regulatory authority to advance seaglider certification in the U.S.

Seagliders are all-electric hydrofoiling wing-in-ground (WIG) craft that always operate over water in ground effect, within one wingspan of the surface of the water. According to U.S. law, this means the novel vessel are defined as maritime vessels and regulated by the U.S. Coast Guard, with technical support from the FAA.

REGENT is working with the U.S. Coast Guard to advance certification of its Viceroy seaglider, a 12-passenger vehicle that can travel at 180mph to service routes up to 180 miles on a single charge.

Path To Human Flight

REGENT successfully proved seaglider technology with its quarter-scale prototype in 2022, showing operations in the three modes: float, foil, and fly.

Testing of the full-scale prototype with humans on board will begin later this year, with the first flight planned for early next year.