Foil could carry cars, 200 passengers

Press, 15 April 1978, Page 3

Foil could carry cars, 200 passengers

(Continued from front page) Boeing is trying to sell New Zealand a 95ft jetfoil, rather than a hydrofoil, with seating for up to 400 pasThe jetfoil is propelled by water jets, similar to a Hamilton jet boat. This is a radical departure from the conventional dieselturbo, electric-powered, pro-peller-driven hydrofoils with non-retractable foils, such as, the one that plied the Wai- i temata. The basic price is about 510.5 M. A Wellington-Lyttel-ton jetfoil would probably ! be modified to carry cars' and freight on the lower ( deck and about 200 passengers upstairs. Although new, they have<

\ already proved highly suc-i ■ cessful overseas and Boeing' has begun full-scale production of a military model. A rugged machine, they! appear able to handle rougher] i conditions than hov-| ercraft, and many predict they will become the passen-, ger ships of the future. Commercial jetfoils are al-j ready running between Hong] Kong and Macao, Honolulu j and Kauai, and London and! iZeebrugge. Mr Dromgoole said they, handled 23ft North Sea! ; waves without problems. i “And you don’t get sea-I sick. I travelled on the Honolulu jetfoil to Kauai through! I a 12ft chop and didn’t feel a! thing. “On the basis of our experience in Auckland we]

don’t expect services to be] ; disrupted more than about! six times a year by south-! (erly storms.” Have jetfoils any advantages over hovercraft? Mr] Dromgoole said he would; :;not start drawing com-1 •i parisons — he was here to I promote jetfoils. , However, there could be in manning, he I said. The London-Zeebrugge ! foil had only a master, an (engineer, and three cabin ] staff. Hovercraft require landI based terminals at each end | rather like airports, whereas jetfoils can use existing port ! facilities and could land pasi sengers right outside the ] Wellington Railway Station, j Mr McLachlan confirmed | from his home yesterday • that Mr Dromgoole had ! called to discuss the matter ! of jetfoils some time before (Christmas. I “It was not an official I visit. He just called for 10 ! minutes to show me a few pamphlets and the approxi- ■ mate price.” I Mr said he had not called for an official report on the scheme. “I only mentioned in passing to the Railways, people :that I had seen him.”': ‘ ; Mr McLachlan said there I were a number of drawbacks to the scheme, one con- ( cerning the freight-carrying (capacity of the jetfoils. However, he said he could] (not be any more precise on] ■ the drawbacks of the scheme] (until he had consulted his] i notes on file in Wellington. ■