Hawai'i Superferry - Chapter 4

[Miulang]

Re: Hawai'i Superferry - Chapter 4

As for collisions with whales, what is anyone doing to make sure the Navy's own fast ships, as well as all the privately owned boats and vessels, aren't going to collide with marine mammals? Why just single out the Superferry which will make a single run to each island per day when all these other vessels can operate without the same concerns?

I'm not saying it shouldn't be done. But if the Superferry has to operate with a high level of care, then so should everyone else.

Very few of the other commercial and private boats has the capability of going 35 knots. Plus, if a "cigarette" boat (which can go faster than that) DID collide with a whale, the whale would probably win because it would be far larger than the boat.

Some people are trying to get the "speed limit" on larger boats (including cruise ships and ferries) changed to a maximum of 12-14 knots within the marine sanctuary areas. In fact, one of the people who wants NOAA and the State to change the rules is the operator of the Moloka'i ferry. The cruise ships wouldn't have any problems complying, because even though they are rated to travel much faster, they appear to only average about 13 knots now. And you know the Navy is above any laws the State might impose on everybody else .

The twin-hulled Superferry will have twice the likelihood of striking whales, honu and other protected marine animals by virtue of its configuration, nevermind the speeds at which it could cruise.

Miulang

[joshuatree]

Re: Hawai'i Superferry - Chapter 4

If SF doesn't travel at average speeds of 35 knots+, they won't be able to meet their timetables as published. Please go to Dr. Tepeley's website and look at those videos, and then come back and tell me you're not convinced that high speeds are dangerous to whales, dolphins, honu and other protected species.

The antis are NOT saying no Superferry (at least not the ones who object on the grounds of whale strikes anyway). If SF would travel at 13 knots (the average speed of the Pride of Aloha when it travels between the islands), it would be far less risky. But how many people would want to spend 12 hours on that boat when the advertised transit time was 4 hours?

According to this Maui News story, there are more whales being spotted in the Marine Sanctuary. More whales means more possibilities of collisions. If you look at the videos, you will see what other Austal high speed ferries that are very similar to Superferry (the ones in the Canary Islands) have done to decimate the pods of whales swimming offshore there. They say that they know the numbers of whales killed or injured there has increased exponentially since those ferries went into service in 1999.

Cruising at 13 knots, according to Dr. Tepley, would allow the whales to be able to avoid collisions with the boat, or if they were struck, the blow would not be as severe as one coming from a 2-pontooned boat travelling at 35 knots. I don't think you have to be a scientific genius to see that that is the truth. If smaller boats today travelling at slower speeds can strike whales, then what would much larger boats travelling much faster do? And when you're on a boat as big and hefty as the Superferry, you probably wouldn't even know when you hit a whale. So if you don't feel it, then you can't know it's happening, and therefore it's OK, right?

As for a new breakwater at Kahului Harbor, to be on the Waihee side, you'd need TWO more walls (makai and on the Waihee side) because it's so rough.

Miulang

1 knot = 1.150779 MPH
1 knot = 1 nautical mile
1 nautical mile = 1.150779 statue mile

Distance between Honolulu and Kahului is 93 miles. I will add 20 more miles just to factor in the ship does not go in a straight line.

So 113 miles / 1.150779 statue mile = 98.194 nautical miles.
Then 98.194 nautical miles / 35 knots = 2.8 hours travel time.

That still leaves 0.2 hour or 12 minutes extra since HSF's published travel time is 3 hours. This tells me HSF is not gonna be gunning at 35 knots from the moment they weigh anchor in Honolulu Harbor till the time they drop anchor in Kahului Harbor.

I am not challenging the concept of whale strikes but I am calling the antis alarm as chicken little with the sky is falling. If the antis answer is to travel at 13 knots, the antis are basically saying no HSF without saying no HSF. Read in between the lines. Sonar is not used because there's all this talk of sonar hurting whales. Kinda unfair to rub that in at HSF, isn't it?

There's a lot of talk of what HSF's speed will do to a whale but why not also look at what HSF has compared to other ships that routinely have whale strikes? No propellors, all waterjets. Shallow draft because of the catamaran design as opposed to deep draft like Pride of Aloha. Also, waterjets can be instaneously put in reverse because the engines keep running but the waterjet nozzles can be thrown into reverse. If you check out HSF's site, they intend not to completely reverse the boat upon a whale sighting but rather to probably throw one set of jets in one hull in reverse with the other forward to make a sharp turn. As someone previously stated, sometimes throwing a ship in complete reverse is not very effective (Titanic).

http://www.rolls-royce.com/marine/pr...s/s_series.jsp

Also, all these other whale strikes, do these boats have the same number of spotters and procedures as HSF? Is it more? Is it less? We need to look at that to fairly assess HSF's threat to whales. The only realistic solution in the immediate future is perhaps to have HSF's path take a northern route north of Molokai. Then it should avoid all the cute pink areas on NOAA's map. But how much time will be added to the trip? What about extra fuel burn? I like to hear how the antis propose to solve this problem since you say they are not against HSF's existence.

I don't see why you need more than one breakwater running parallel to Kahului Beach Rd. Maybe we might be looking at different locations? I'm talking about building a new breakwater northwest of Kahului Harbor, right from the existing left breakwater.

[Miulang]

Re: Hawai'i Superferry - Chapter 4

Oh man, this could get ugly: all the facts about the "shelving" of DOT Director Rod Haraga for the last 18 months of his tenure may impact any decisions that the State was part of regarding the Superferry EIS AND the negotiations between the State and go! And Pacific Wings (the ones who uncovered this little problem) now wants to join the Superferry EIS suit!

During the last two years, the Transportation Department has had its usual share of controversies and sensitive issues. On Maui, these included the Superferry EIS, unhappiness about the time it has taken to build a Lahaina bypass and extensive changes at Kahului Airport.

But there was nothing unusually contentious going on – at least in public – in the months before Lingle told Haraga in August 2005 that his deputies would no longer report to him.

“Awana and Lingle sidelined the DOT director so they could run things themselves,” Kahlstorf contends.

“This could invalidate decisions made by Hawaii DOT during the time the department was being illegally run,” Kahlstorf told Morita, including the decision that an EIS was not required for Hawaii Superferry.

Although it was not publicly known that Lingle had removed Haraga from operational decisions in 2005, House Transportation Committee Chairman Souki knew.

He said Wednesday that “of course” it bothered him, but he did not see what the Legislature could do about it.

“I was aware last year that (Haraga’s) responsibilities were taken away from him. I didn’t know why.”

Souki said he knew that “the power was going to (Haraga’s) respective deputies, he was left only with public relations.”

Nobody in Gov. Lingle's office (including Haraga) wants to discuss why he was kept on salary for 18 months with only contract signing duties (@ an annual salary of $102,000) and why underlings in the department (like Brian Sekiguchi, who helped negotiate the terms for Superferry and go!) had the kind of power they apparently had, and instead of reporting to Haraga, appear to have reported directly to the Gov.'s office. According to the State Constitution, all department heads have complete line responsibility for their staff.

And Barry Fukunaga, the new DOT Director nominee, says that the practice of DOT staff reporting directly to the Gov's office has now been changed. Is that an admission that the Gov. was involved in some shenanigans?

Miulang

[Miulang]

Re: Hawai'i Superferry - Chapter 4

Another option is forward-looking sonar made by companies like Interphase. There are commercially available units for recreational boating that can "see" 1000 feet ahead. At 59 feet per second, that gives you 16 seconds of warning. Enough time to slow down and steer to a safe course.

Unfortunately, Superferry will not come equipped with ANY sonar. Does sonar work as well on close-to-the-surface objects, too? Mama whales and their calves apparently have to stay pretty close to the surface (even in deep water) because the calves can't hold their breaths very long; Mama will generally swim directly below the baby. Dr. Tepley (see video) said that a twin-hulled boat like Superferry travelling at 35 knots would only have 2.9 seconds to avoid collision. Is that possible? Would anyone's reaction time be that quick?

As for Superferry saying they will use visual aids (like state of the art binoculars) and spotters to detect whale proximity, I think that works better on smooth water; anybody who's flown over the channel between Molokai and Lanai knows that the water is always pretty choppy, so it would be harder to differentiate between a wave and a whale (and I bet it's even harder when you're closer to the surface of the ocean than when you're flying above it at 1,000 feet). Anybody who's tried staring at the ocean on a bright day knows that your eyes get tired within minutes, not hours, so the spotters would have to take turns and switch off every few minutes in order to maintain visual acuity.

Miulang

[Composite 2992]

Re: Hawai'i Superferry - Chapter 4

L35 knots is about 42 mph (I think). Whales have this nasty habit of breaching whereever they feel like it. Boats at any speed have issues with stopping immediately. What is the reaction time of a really awake human being? 2 seconds? 5 seconds to realize what they see (after staring at open ocean for 2 hours). If we have problems stopping a 2,000 lb car going 45 mph, how long would it take for a boat weighing many more times than a car going the same speed (and accounting for the inertia that you encounter in water) to come to a complete stop?

35 Kts is 40.2 MPH.

There's no way to effectively stop a vessel that large or massive in a reasonable amount of time. When dealing with an impending collision, stopping is seldom any mariner's first option. The first option would generally be steering clear of an obstruction. And, depending on how the propulsion units work in concert with the steering gear, reducing power might actually make a vessel LESS maneuverable.

Also, inertia is the same, whether in air or water. What counts is mass and velocity. And it's a lot of mass and a lot of velocity. Water, in fact, would tend to slow vessels a lot more when the power is chopped, due to the drag from the wetted surface, compared to a vehicle on wheels. Still, a ship is not likely to stop or slow in time to avoid impact.

Another option is forward-looking sonar made by companies like Interphase. There are commercially available units for recreational boating that can "see" 1000 feet ahead. At 59 feet per second, that gives you 16 seconds of warning. Enough time to slow down and steer to a safe course.