Say “Boeing” and the first image in your head is probably the 747 jumbo airliner, complete with it’s distinctive hump, or any of the other passenger planes that the company has cranked out over the last century. Not hard to understand that…Boeing’s reputation as an aircraft builder is world renowned. But the company has made more than just airplanes. Besides helicopters, Boeing has made space vehicles, passenger cars that were used on the MBTA system, and this sea-going beast, the 929.

The process is simple enough: take a hydrofoil design that was first tested out on the USS Tucumcari patrol boat in 1966, add two Rolls-Royce turbines, and enough passenger space to carry a couple hundred people in comfort, and set it loose on the water. As the ship gains speed, the struts under the water create a lifting effect, lifting the body of the foil out of the water and allowing for faster speeds…in the 929’s case, about fifty miles an hour across the water, a healthy pace. Up until about 1985, 929s could be found on Puget Sound, working the Seattle-Victoria, British Columbia route. If you want to ride one today, however, your best bets involve a trip to either Japan or Hong Kong.