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Maryland's far Eastern Shore may soon be a quick trip from Baltimore, thanks to a speedy, futuristic ferry being developed by Maritime Applied Physics Corporation and A. James Clark School of Engineering researchers through the Maryland Industrial Partnerships Program. The plane-like boat, which could be in service year- round as early as summer 2007, will fly passengers 18 miles over the water from Rock Hall to Baltimore and back. "Since the steamship days the Eastern Shore has held a certain allure for Baltimoreans," said P.A.M. Schaller, Director of Economic Development for Kent County. "Rock Hall has the flavor of a waterman's town. Nearby Chestertown has loads of 18th century architecture. Both have fabulous restaurants. It's like stepping back in time." The trip by car is 80 miles, requiring a drive either north into Delaware, or south to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. Passenger ships ran the same route as recently as the 1960s, according to Schaller. A 155-acre amusement park called Tolchester Beach north of Chestertown serviced a ferry and as many as six steamers, attracting 22,000 visitors a weekend. The 85-year-old park closed in 1962. Rock Hall and its neighboring areas are getaway havens, with booming summer communities of vacationing boaters from Philadelphia, Delaware, New Jersey, and New York. The new, 80-passenger ferry will be part plane-flying close to the water, lifted into the air by its aerodynamic hull; it will be part hydrofoil, a type of boat with wing-shaped blades attached to struts under the hull that lift the boat out of the water as speed increases; it will also be part luxury vessel, with leather aircraft seating, a coffee bar, and outlets for laptops. 24 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News the draft of only 0.9-m, about half that of previous ves- sels in the fleet, offered scope for extensions to the service network. Expressions of the builder's adaptability have includ- ed a catamaran harbor cruise vessel and a host of other one-off projects, while activity at the Margate premis- es during 2005 has included Silversonic, a 28-m cata- maran designed for daily dive cruises to Australia's Great Barrier Reef. The handover of the elegant e-motion has opened a new chapter in the development of North West Bay Ships, taking the company into the promising megay- acht market. The adoption of a multihull configuration, unusual in the luxury motor yacht sector, reflected the client's interest and positive impressions of the tri- maran ferry Triumphant, having sailed aboard her just after completion at the yard. The seakeeping and ride properties of the 40-knot tri- maran ferry, in combination with speed and handling, had led to the commissioning of a feasibility study into the use of the trimaran platform as a stable, comfort- able and efficient 20-knot superyacht. A build contract ensued, and the all-aluminum e-motion is the product, incorporating interior and exterior styling by Sam Sorgiovanni Designs. Circle 235 on Reader Service Card Circle 201 on Reader Service Card Circle 229 on Reader Service Card Passenger Vessels (Continued from previous page) Futuristic Vessels Will "Fly" Fast Above the Water (Photo Credit: Maritime Applied Physics Corp.) MR JANUARY2006 #3 (17-24).qxd 1/3/2006 3:15 PM Page 24
