Hydrofoil Containerships. What could possibly go wrong?

[GILow]

Well, if these become a thing, I for one am giving up sailing.


https://gcaptain.com/video-hydrofoil...a-thing-maybe/

[Dan Mosby]

The writing's on the wall, brother. Steam killed sail, diesel killed steam, and foiling will kill displacement hulls for all but the die hards.

As soon as they manage to make foiling less of a pain in the ass, producers will start flooding the market with them.

[GILow]

Originally Posted by Dan Mosby

The writing's on the wall, brother. Steam killed sail, diesel killed steam, and foiling will kill displacement hulls for all but the die hards.

As soon as they manage to make foiling less of a pain in the ass, producers will start flooding the market with them.

I just don’t want to killed by a foiling Containership.

[wingssail]

Boeing made a few of these for passengers; as far as I know they are still in operation on Hong Kong Macau run (look in the background in the photo at the bottom). Gas turbine, water jet drive, fully submerged computer controlled foils, 40+ kts. They made a couple of bigger ones for the Navy, High Point and Pegasus, IIRC. Never really caught on, I thing the operational costs were too high. They cut logs pretty good I hear.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDFZHg9vPbs

[wingssail]

Originally Posted by GILow

I just don’t want to killed by a foiling Containership.

They can turn in a smaller radius than a tanker or container ship. Keep your AIS on.

[GILow]

Originally Posted by wingssail

They can turn in a smaller radius than a tanker or container ship. Keep your AIS on.

Yeah, but somebody has to be awake at their helm.

[model 10]

Originally Posted by GILow

Yeah, but somebody has to be awake at their helm.

Or awake at our helm. If you were awake and saw one, you would know more quickly where it was headed.

[GILow]

Originally Posted by Ecos

Or awake at our helm. If you were awake and saw one, you would know more quickly where it was headed.

Sure, but I’m not sure how good my top speed of 6 knots will be in taking evasive action.

[Chotu]

Maybe they'll be self navigating drones too.

[wingssail]

Originally Posted by GILow

Sure, but I’m not sure how good my top speed of 6 knots will be in taking evasive action.

You only have to move 100 ft. They will have their AIS on, trust us on that. You set your TCPA to 10 minutes and your CPA alarm to .2 nm. You can see where they will be. If they are going to run over you turn on the frickin motor and push the pedal to the metal. You can move 100 ft in about 10 seconds. Make it so you pass port to port.

But honestly, a 40mph vessel will have somebody no asleep at the helm and if your AIS is transmitting, they'll be interested in missing you. Hitting a sailboat with a hydrofoil at 40kts is a lot worse than hitting one with a tanker going 18.

[David M]

Not going to happen on a large scale with thousands of TEU's. People are not going to be willing to spend the enormous additional cost for much more fuel used to get their cargo sooner. To double the speed fuel consumption must be cubed...roughly.

[El Pinguino]

Bugger.... need a screen wipe... just watched the vid...

There is a reason hydrofoils are made of alloy.......

And the 'Great Stena HSS Experiment' wasn't repeated....

Speaking of which..... I took these shots on the bridge of Stena Discovery STENA DISCOVERY - IMO 9107590 - Callsign PCCU - ShipSpotting.com - Ship Photos and Ship Tracker ( read the attached text ) about 20 years ago as she was crossing the Nord Hinder TSS at a bit over 45 knots on her way from Harwich to the Hook.....

Asked the master how they handled crossing traffic... his response.... 'we just treat all other traffic as if its standing still.....'

The 'his and hers' binoculars suggest that looking out the windows was still considered a priority.....

Ooops, just sorted the photos...

[barnakiel]

Not happening. Way too heavy.


b.

[GILow]

Originally Posted by wingssail

You only have to move 100 ft. They will have their AIS on, trust us on that. You set your TCPA to 10 minutes and your CPA alarm to .2 nm. You can see where they will be. If they are going to run over you turn on the frickin motor and push the pedal to the metal. You can move 100 ft in about 10 seconds. Make it so you pass port to port.



But honestly, a 40mph vessel will have somebody no asleep at the helm and if your AIS is transmitting, they'll be interested in missing you. Hitting a sailboat with a hydrofoil at 40kts is a lot worse than hitting one with a tanker going 18.

Trying to find the emoticon for peals of manic laughter.

Failed to do so.

Your faith in humans is touching and does you credit.

Me, I reckon half an hour at 40 knots in the open ocean would result in the same level of situational awareness as 12 hours behind the wheel at 18 knots.

But people have remarked that I can be a bit of a cynic.

[wingssail]

Originally Posted by GILow

Trying to find the emoticon for peals of manic laughter.

Failed to do so.

Your faith in humans is touching and does you credit.

Me, I reckon half an hour at 40 knots in the open ocean would result in the same level of situational awareness as 12 hours behind the wheel at 18 knots.

But people have remarked that I can be a bit of a cynic.

OK, Mr GILow, My experience with commercial ship crew, the wheelhouse bunch, not the deckhands, is that they are pretty professional. Not just chugging along falling asleep. It's not that I have a lot of trust in humans, it's just that being on watch on a high tech, high speed, commercial vessel, is a pretty big responsibility. ALL of my interactions with commercial ships have been positive, and I've had a few. That you can call them by name is a huge improvement because before that, calling, "Commercial ship on my starboard bow..." pretty much means they will not answer. But "Cali Queen, Cali Queen, this is sailing vessel Wings…" They answer, and they have always been professional.

And you can bet that any ultra modern ship will have better electronics than I do, and mine will wake the dead if there is a collision risk. So even if the watch standers have been sailing for three days and have seen nothing, when that AIS alarm goes off, they will be alert. I'm not worried about the big, fast, ships, it's the smaller fishing vessels which scare me. But they don't go 40 kts.