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N O V E M B E R 2 0 0 2 n 7 A M R N S C A T n classic H O V E R C A F T n f a s t ferries H Y D R O F I L S Italian Jumbos Gulf of Naples SR.N6s From UK to Thailand by hydrofoil N O V E M B E R 2 0 0 2 n 7 classic f a s t ferries PHOTO ON COVER COPYWRIGHT 2000/2002 AND RELEVANT NEWS ITEMS ARE ENCOURAGED! EDITOR/PUBLISHER: TIM TIMOLEON ISSUED IN PDF FORMAT; PLEASE CHECK OUR SITE ON THE WEB FOR NEXT ISSUE DETAILS: HTTP://CLASSICFASTFERRIES.GO.TO THE ONLY PERIODICAL ABOUT HEYDAY OF PASSENGER HYDROFOILS, HOVERCRAFT & CATAMARANS - PLUS RELEVANT NEWS : TIM TIMOLEON CLASSIC FAST FERRIES n ALL ARTICLES, ARTWORK & DESIGNS BY THE EDITOR, EXCEPT WHERE NOTED n EMAIL.: c f @ e m a i l . d k RHS 70s travel 8,500 nautical miles under their own power The pair of former Red Funnel RHS This was increased to 6,000 liters by 70 hydrofoils Shearwater 5 and temporarily removing a number of A b o v e : Shearwater 6 which left South- seats to make room for twenty-four The two RHS ampton, U.K. for Thailand at the 200-liter diesel drums and thirty 20- 70s shortly before beginning of September are slowly liter plastic jerry cans. As a result, departure from but steadily getting closer to their the hydrofoils run at hullborne Southampton in destination. Unusually for a small speed, normally around 7-9 knots, September, design such as the RHS 70, the two for big parts of the journey, and only having been hydrofoils are making the entire trip, get foilborne when the fuel is down prepared for their some 8,500 nautical miles, under to some 3,500 liters, and of course three month their own power. weather permitting. cruise halfway The idea, the new owner, Kon- n round the world Tiki Diving, reports, is to use the M O R E P A G E 6 SUBMITTALS OF MANUSCRIPTS AND PHOTOS, OLD NEW, to Thailand craft to transfer tourists from Kaho (MIKAEL Lak in mainland Thailand to the B e l o w : A pantry with hot plates ERIKSSON) Similan Islands, lying approximately and a refrigerator/deep freezer, etc. has 35 nautical off shore in the been installed behind the bridge on both n Andeman Sea, and as a fast dive craft ( MIKAEL ERIKSSON ) boat to reach some of the better dive sites c o v e r : within a day. SNAV RHS 200 Superjumbo One of the main (right) and W95 concerns for the catamaran Martini transit between Bianco in Napoli the continents, Mergellina in which has to be September 1987. Rodriquez's the longest ever largest hydrofoil voyage for a hydro- design, the RHS foil not traveling 200 is still to be as deck cargo, was found in the area the only 600 liter (TIM TIMOLEON) fuel capacity of the RHS 70. 2 classic fast ferries 7 – 2002 Sole KF Flying Cat 40m Wide Body catamaran introduced in the West Indies A vessel with an interesting large T-foil forward on each hull Kværner's Motion Dampening background entered service in and a full width foil aft. Cruising System. the Caribbean in September. at 45-50 knots under normal Laid out for 374 passengers Originally completed by operating conditions, the FoilCat the catamaran was acquired by Norwegian fast ferry builder would fly some 0.6m above the Black Sea Shipping and, named Kværner Fjellstrand as its sea. Power was supplied by a Evridika, put into service on an prototype FoilCat foil assisted pair of General Electric LM500 international route in the Black catamaran in 1991, it was gas turbines, each driving a Sea linking Varna, Bulgaria and converted to a Flying Cat 40m Kamewa S80 waterjet. The Istanbul, Turkey in October of Wide Body catamaran – also the intakes for the waterjets were that year. only built and so designated incorporated in the struts of the It has since operated under because of its almost 2m larger aft foil. charter to companies in breadth as compared to the The prototype never entered Portugal, the Balearics and Malta standard Flying Cat 40m – in revenue service. However, the before returning to Norway. 1995. project bore fruit some time Last year a Norwegian As built the twin deck vessel later as an order for two smaller company, Nordic Express, featured fully submerged foils; a 35m FoilCats were placed by announced it was to lease Hong Kong operator Far East Evridika for an inter-Scandinavia Hydrofoil towards the end of route in the Skagerrak between A b o v e : Kværner Fjellstrand 1993. These were delivered in Arendal on Norway's south-east Flying Cat 40m Wide Body catamaran May1995. coast and Strömstad, Sweden. Calypso I entered service with Mermaid Simultaneously the foils on the These plans fell through Fast Ferries in the US Virgin Islands prototype were removed and however. in September. It is seen here coming into while keeping its original waterjets, Gallows Bay harbor, St. Croix the vessel was refitted with MTU M O R E P A G E 1 8 ( DAVID ELLIOT ) 16V 396 TE74L diesels as well as classic fast ferries 7 – 2002 3 Leonardo Lella,a pilot and consultant in aero-maritime matters, and a pro- hovercrafter, has talked to some of the persons who were part of the first-ever commercial SR.N6 operation in Italy in the 60s, including one of the captains, Mr. Pandolfi, who also provided the unique never before published photos appearing with this article or all the obvious reasons, fast ferries, not these, No. 018 in the production line, was surprisingly in the form of hydrofoils, came shipped to Italy from the U.K in April 1967 early to the Golfo di Napoli. and entered revenue service in the Gulf of But it was not until eight years after the Naples on July 1st. A second (# 028) first PT.50 had appeared in the area that a followed in August. scheduled passenger service using The craft would operate every day of the hovercraft was introduced between Napoli week until mid-October, at an average and the picturesque islands of Capri and crossing completing the 18 nautical miles to Ischia. either Capri or Ischia in approximately 25 A Napoli based company, Aeronave minutes, as compared to 40 mins. by S.p.A., had been formed to operate two 40- hydrofoil and 80 mins. by conventional seat SR.N6, or Winchester Class, hovercraft ferry. According to Mr. Pandolfi, at built by British Hovercraft Corporation at ocassions when conditions got too bad for its Itchen, Southampton plant. The first of the hydrofoils to operate, the SR.N6s 4 classic fast ferries 7 – 2002 O p p o s i t e : The first of Aeronave's SR.N6s at Napoli's Diaz rotunda. Standing in the top hatched door giving access to the craft is capt. Pandolfi L e f t + B e l o w : The hovercraft on arrival in the Canary Islands in 1968, following their operation in the Gulf of Naples B o t t o m : Capt. Pandolfi on the small gangway of SR.N6 018 at the pad in Napoli ( ALL PHOTOS COLLECTION OF CAPT. PANDOLFI ) would continue doing so, albeit at reduced speed. And probably at reduced comfort to passengers (and crew) as well, although no severe seasickness was ever noted. Four pilots were hired by Aeronave for the service. These received one month of training at hovercraft handling at BHC in England prior to the service start-up in the Gulf. In Italy, like elsewhere where this mode of transportation was introduced in the early days, there was some doubt as to whether the hovercraft was to be considered Mechanical reliability of the two Italian craft was good. Some an airplane or a ship. engine trouble associated with sea water penetration and hydraulic Incidentally, this, whether failure due to cable leaks were experienced, as was normal skirt intentional or not, was reflected wear. There was however some dissatisfaction among locals, by the company name; particularly in the islands, with the noise level generated by the Aero(Air)nave(ship). At the time crafts' engine and propeller and also the spray they produced. the operating licence for Passenger response, too, was good. Still, the service did not commercial hovercraft in Italy survive. The relatively small size, only 14.7m in length, was granted by the aeronautics and capacity, 40 passengers, of the craft being part of the authorities. reason. For comparison, the smallest hydrofoil in service in Italy, the PT.20 in its standard version, had an overall length of 20.7m and carried some 70 passengers. After the second season of operation, June to October 1968, both SR.N6s were chartered back to BHC and taken to the Canary Islands for demonstrations. While at the time the Gulf of Naples service may not have been declared dead it was not resumed the following year. M O R E O V E R L E A F classic fast ferries 7 – 2002 5 RHS 70s travel . Hovering ( c o n t ' d f r o m p a g e 2 ) across the Bay of Naples Aeronave's first craft, SR.N6 018, ended its active days less than two years later – and only three-and-a- half years after it had been launched – following an accident in south-west Africa. After leases to Hovertravel and Hoverwork in the U.K., the other unit, SR.N6 028, was written off and subsequently scrapped in 1975.