Ok, the title is a bit clickbaity (it's not the "Soviet fleet" just some civilian Soviet hydrofoil ships), but the article is still interesting. I have had the opportunity to travel with hydrofoil ships twice (once between two Greek islands, and once in St. Petersburg), have very much enjoyed the retrofuturistic experience (as you can see in the photos, the seats look more like something you would find on an old airplane than on a ship) and have always wondered why they have stayed a niche technology.
They were also running regular service with 4 ships in the Netherlands (Amsterdam-IJmuiden) until 2014. It was stopped because of accidents, speed limits and I imagine fuel consumption (they have 1000 kW engines). Few years before the larger and faster High-speed sea service ferry from Rotterdam (-ish) to Harwich was also cancelled due to fuel consumption. I took the one from Amsterdam a few times and agree it was quite a nice experience (and you could take your bike along)
I've been to an island with fast hydrofoil ferries and regular ferries. Most people preferred the regular ones because they were cheaper and gave a smoother ride.
I was actually surprised by how smooth the ride was traveling by hydrofoil in Greece. I was expecting to be jostled and bumped the whole way, but it was much less violent than I was expecting by the complaints I've heard.
“Early hydrofoils used V-shaped foils. Hydrofoils of this type are known as "surface-piercing" since portions of the V-shape hydrofoils rise above the water surface when foilborne. Some modern hydrofoils use fully submerged inverted T-shape foils. Fully submerged hydrofoils are less subject to the effects of wave action, and, therefore, more stable at sea and more comfortable for crew and passengers.”
We have several hydrofoil ferries here in Massachusetts and I think they must be these new types.
They are very smooth, and very fast. Very very desirable to take them versus the regular ferry because they make certain tourist visits day trips versus very expensive overnight trips.
Thanks, this is great to know! The wife took the ferry before me, with our then-four year old. I asked her to please hold his head because it's going to be very bumpy. Some weeks later she brought it up as an example of how I exaggerate things. Finally I have closure ))
I was going to read this article but as soon as the page loaded I was presented with a new page informing me that I was running an old version of Firefox and that I should click a link to download the newest version.
I verified that I am using the current version. Am I the only one who got that hijack attempt?
Yep. I'm not sure what's up because I run the latest FF and uBlock Origin but it felt a bit like a drive-by attempt to infect. There's no way I'm gonna hang around for that.
I don't know if they're still running but in 2015 I took the hydrofoil from Vienna to Bratislava on the Danube. It was really cool. The folding tablets were big metal chunks, everything was screaming "Soviet technology that will withstand the next ice age" :)
There was a hydrofoil connection between Helsinki and Tallinn but they couldn't run in bad weather. There was also a water jet and a helicopter (that sadly crashed). Only regular ships currently. It's about 80 km and quite a lot of traffic.
A modern hydrofoil might be a great fit for this, and very energy efficient so I wonder if it could even run on batteries (like Candela). They're also planning a tunnel or hyperloop.
https://www.civilbeat.org/2018/01/more-on-why-the-hawaii-sup... says "This fast-ferry operation closed in 1979 due to the rough interisland sea conditions and related high maintenance costs. The three vessels were sold to Far East Hydrofoil to operate in the Hong Kong-Macao service on the inland waters of the Pearl River estuary."
As of a few years ago, there's still very little boat travel between the islands, specifically the Big Island and Maui. That channel is treacherous and storms can come seemingly out of nowhere. Here's one famous case of this:
What's great about watercraft compared to airplanes is that cities usually have a port right next to the center, while the airport is usually far away. A helicopter is somewhere in the middle, it can land to an industrial port or other area with less noise constraints. I guess e-vtol could solve that too if it's not too noisy?
Seaplanes are sometimes used in such situations, as in the area around Seattle and Vancouver (or perhaps, given the context, that should be the Puget Sound - Strait of Georgia?)
My only experience with hydrofoil travel was from Naples to Stromboli. The weather was good, and with wave heights lower than the hull clearance over the water, the ride was smooth.
Bratislava had three Meteor-class hydrofoils. During the lockdowns, they were pulled into the dry dock and after the lockdown was over, they were in very bad shape, needing repairs, that the owner was not willing to do.
There's one hydrofoil ship recently restored and currently in operation in Lithuania between Kaunas (mainland) and Nida (curonian split). Journey time is approximately the same as driving by car.
It's definitely an experience in itself, but it's not a replacement for other transport modes (50 eur for a one-way ticket).
As someone said, inside gives you a feeling of an old airplane https://www.laivasraketa.lt/en/3d-tour/
