TechnoTourist’s Engineering Expeditions

No singing - it's far too crowded and hot!

This detail is from Ian Wrenford regarding Sydney (Australia)'s Italian made hydrofoils.

"In terms of Sydney's hydrofoils, there were four distinct Hydrofoil models in operation. All were Italian in design from the Rodriquez shipyard. The first arrived in Sydney in 1964 and was a single Japanese licence-built Supramar PT20 with a capacity of 72 passengers named the Manly. It's introduction caused a few ripples for the harbour administrators with some initial (thankfully shortlived) restrictions on when and for how long it was permitted to get up on foils. The public seemed to take to it - there would have been some novelty value if nothing else and plans were made to extend the hydrofoil fleet.

What followed was the purchase over a number of years was the purchase of four Italian built Rodriquez PT50 with a capacity of 140 passengers. They were named the Fairlight (1966), Dee Why (1970), Palm Beach (1975) and Long Reef (1978). All of these had subtle differences certainly around the superstructure.

A single Rodriquez RHS140, the Curl Curl (1973) was introduced with a similar capacity to the PT50. The last type in Sydney was the much larger RHS160F with two arriving, the Manly in (1984) and Sydney (1985) each with a passenger capacity of 235. These were far more functional craft but in my view lacked some of the pretty lines of the earlier ones.

The Circular Quay to Manly run was never really optimal for hydrofoil operation. The demands on the mechanicals in becoming foil-borne, the short 9 minute time on foils, the short 6 minute turn-around time at each end - all combined to require high levels of preventative (and non-preventative!) maintenance. A perhaps not dissimilar position to the wear and tear and maintenance issues faced by short-haul airlines - except that hydrofoils have a 1 metre cruising altitude.

An additional issue was the passenger capacity which at around 140 was significantly less than the 1000 or so carried by the large ferries of the day. The hydrofoils were only ever going to service a niche market - cost vs time vs capacity.

With an aging fleet, persistent reliability problems and some perhaps dubious industrial relations practices the hydrofoils were eventually replaced by the "Jetcats" which saw the hydrofoils phased out by 1991. The Jetcats themselves did not last out the decade with their own raft of reliability problems. The current services are dominated by the large (c1000 pax) and fast (17 knot) double ended Ferries.

The Fairlight, Dee Why and Palm Beach were in 1988 cut up for scrap at Sydney's Olympic site at Homebush - when it was little more than water side wasteland. The Sydney, Manly (RHS160F), Curl Curl and Long Reef, being newer vessels, were purchased back by Rodriquez and shipped back to Italy in 1992. In Italy they were rebuilt, resold and renamed and provide service generally in the Mediterranean, most still being in service at the end of the century."