Firstly a recap on my work as TechSec over the last year.
The March THS News Note has been sent out to members of the Society at the beginning of April. It is issued by email to members every other month, and available in a folder on this site once a member has logged in.
During the last year my focus has been on building the technical library for members, which does now contain the main technical conferences held by THS and its forerunners, from 1959 onwards, so there is a core repository of technical knowledge now in place.
We have continued to hold presentations on Zoom, and these are loaded on the THS YouTube channel. Most can be viewed publicly so do take a look! If you check the events page from time to time you should keep up to date with when meetings are held. It only takes an email to us to be sent log on details.
The problem with YouTube is that there is so much material, so it is easy to become distracted and lost in the system. To help members therefore, our News Note has direct links to videos relating to specific hovercraft and operations. Unfortunately, in the process of assembling material, the Technical Secretary can also forget to log the link before moving on, and so it becomes time consuming. The end result is nevertheless satisfying.
To give just one example of useful links, below you will find two presentations of the new hover ferry service in Beppu Bay, Oita Prefecture. Three new craft from Griffon Hoverwork are now in their pre-service workup phase. Griffon Hoverwork have done a Q&A video and Explore Oita Japan has made a complementary video for visitors to the city and prefecture.
Click on the images to open the videos on YouTube.
This service is rather longer than the Hovertravel Southsea to Ryde service, taking up to 30 minutes to cross Beppu bay so it should be a noteworthy experience for passengers as well as providing valuable maintenance feedback to Griffon Hoverwork.
Latest information suggests that a full service across the bay to the airport will be in place by autumn, including linkages to flights from other parts of Japan and even South Korea that will then give visitors a tour rather than just a connecting trip which will be the core service offering.
The delivery of these three hover ferries has been a major undertaking for Griffon Hoverwork over the last two years. Just now their attention is turned to building two smaller craft for the Polish Border Guard and working on a study for the Canadian Coastguard for new designs to replace the existing AP1-88’s that are in service in Vancouver and Montreal. The AP1-88 craft themselves replaced earlier SRN-6 craft when they became obsolescent. That transition was from gas turbine powering to diesels, and rivetted aluminium structure to welded marine aluminium. The present study is looking at power systems and craft designs that will be fit for the 2030’s. Quite a challenge.
Big news on the Surface Effect Ship front during March has been the signing of a formal agreement between ESNA, Naval Architects Practise based in Kristiansand, Norway and Strategic Marine based in Singapore.
This agreement is based on the parties’ experience in working together for three SES crew boats for the oil and gas sector. It foresees a greater level of collaboration between ESNA and Strategic Marine for the promotion of SES technology for various target markets, such as offshore wind, oil and gas and security & defence applications.
ESNA is supplying the vessel design package and an equipment package for the main SES systems. The SES equipment package simplifies the complexity during construction by fully replacing hydraulic systems with modular electrical systems. The fully automatic and modern SES control system enhances both energy efficiency and operational performance.
Strategic Marine plan to start building the first offshore wind farm SES CTV during the fourth quarter of 2024. Find out more here.
For the oil and gas market, ESNA is teaming with AIRCAT Vessels to deliver fuel-efficient high-speed crew offshore transport designs, tailored for the oil and gas markets under demanding operational conditions.
During March also, we have added a profile of one of the original pioneers, who also is a THS member – John Chaplin. This includes a summary from himself, and a number of papers published about his key projects, starting with SR,N1!
I will leave it there just now and aim to prepare short pieces like this every few weeks. Just keep a check on the Home page!
If you have questions or/and wish to connect, just email to Techsec@Thehovercraftsociety.org.uk and I will reply.
Alan Bliault
Technical Secretary
For information on our privacy policy please click on the Button
