New passenger ferry between Vancouver and Victoria

[Scott]

"Knots per hour" is like saying "kilometers per hour per hour"

[BrianWilliams]

There should be an effort to restore downtown Vancouver to downtown Victoria ferry service, as provided by CP 45 years ago.

Victoria Clipper tried, like Harbourlynx, but foundered on 1980's peoples resistance to travel without a car. Perhaps 90c/litre fuel prices will help.

I think a key to harbour-to-harbour travel are easy transfers. It should have worked for Harbourlynx. Step off SkyTrain in Vancouver, walk down the ramp and there's HL's dock.

Perhaps HL's appeal was limited by their too-few sailings to Nanaimo and no service to Victoria.

Pardon an historical reflection: CP Coastal ships sailed from Pier B, Pier C, Pier A and newer A-1 in the 1940's and 50's. The passenger docks were all clustered around the foot of Granville Street, directly connected by walkways from the CPR railway station.

Folks fresh off the train from Toronto were ushered to a waiting CPR ferry by porters, and the seamless transportation system worked very well.

Well enough, if y'all were travelling first class, with baggage checked through by CPR. If not ... you humped your bags down to Columbia Street and caught a cheaper ride on Union Steamships to Vancouver Island.

There is one barrier to speedy 2007 travel to Vancouver Island. Cars. Whether displacement or planing hulls, truly fast ferries can't carry automobiles, nor can we provide vast parking lots in central Victoria and Vancouver.

[Neil]

Sorry, terribly negative of me I know, but I just can't take schemes like this seriously. Guess it comes from hearing of so many entrepreneurs over the decades who were going to start up cruise lines, or revolutionize the ferry world.

A rich Albertan with a map, magic marker, dreams of fancy toys going impossibly fast, and a yen to wear an admiral's hat. Yawn.

[Political Incorrectness]

if knots are nautical miles and you are going a certain amount of miles per hour, how is it acceleration?

[Scott]

From Wikipedia:

DEFINITION

1 international knot = 1.000 nautical mile/hour = 1.852 Km/h exactly. This is based on the internationally agreed length of the nautical mile, as adopted by the US in 1954 (which previously used the US nautical mile of 1852.249m), the UK in 1970 (which previously used the UK or Admiralty nautical mile of 1853.184m) and other countries. This is the definition used in most, if not all, modern circumstances. Knot is sometimes mistakenly used to refer to the nautical mile itself, but this is incorrect.

The speed of a vessel relative to the fluid itself, and not land, is referred to as 'boat speed' or 'vessel speed' or, for aircraft, 'air speed' and is usually measured in knots. The combination of direction of motion and speed is called velocity. If the medium is flowing, boat velocity differs from the ground velocity by the velocity of the medium. Velocity made good refers to ground velocity and may also be expressed in knots in navigation.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knot_(speed)

Summary: A knot is not a measure of nautical distance, but speed:)

[D'Elete BC in NJ]

Nautical miles are shorthanded as "nm" not "knots" FYI

[Barnacle]

I was going to say something, but I decided it wasn't worth the effort on the day I saw it.

[Northern Exploration]

Even before Harbourlynx there was the Hovercraft service that ran between downtown Vancouver and Victoria. I used to bug my parents to drive down so we could see it come and go. Roland Mitchner the Governor General at the time was there one day to take it. It was late and he was just chatting with the people that were there either waiting to board or there to watch it arrive and depart. Very noisy when it did. It docked or landed just west of the old cruise ship pier. My Dad had an office in the Guiness Building (greenish coloured) just west of Canada Place. I went to work with him when he had to work some Saturdays. My face was glued to the window watching the truck and train ferries load and unload. The hovercraft was in the same area. Also the Empress of Vancouver loaded there. Between that and the seaplanes it was a kid's dream way of spending a Saturday afternoon. Before many of you were born hehe.

[BrianWilliams]

pnwtraveler: The foot of Granville Street is still a magnet for harbour watchers most of the year.

SkyTrains slip briefly into view from the old Dunsmuir Tunnel; SeaBusses paddle like white ducks; floatplanes and Helijets are always on the go; Tymac's sturdy crewboats rip by from Main Street; and the bizarre wedding-cake fantasy cruise ships tower over all.

All against a backdrop of mountains and Stanley Park. Beat that scene, rest of the world!

[Retrovision]

Here is David Hahn's take on passenger-only services between Vancouver and the Island, not limited to Nanaimo (listen carefully), from the last BCFS Annual General Meeting

[BrianWilliams]

"Listen carefully .."

That's right, I wish YouTube could provide subtitles for their muddy audio.

Anyway, downtown-to-downtown ferry service these days is a big undertaking, deep pockets only should try. And it's not a BC Ferries' mandate.

BCF should welcome passenger-only supplements to their mainland-VI service. Helijet, Harbour Air and Barker are doing well, it seems, and they're often not too costly. But the fuel-per-passenger inefficiency of small aircraft (and restrictions at night and in bad weather) leave an opportunity for fast watercraft.

It will come.

[Christy Buzzi]

I am commenting on Alberta businessman Don Stein whom I have personally met. Regarding the comment about the John Deere tractor, Mr. Stein's resume in fact includes over twenty-five years of international marine experience, primarily in the North Sea, the Indian Ocean, Canadian Arctic and South China sea and almost every other sea in the world. Mr. Stein's concern was for the antiquated and historically abysmal failures of utilizing technology that were failures in other parts of the world which had been tried and tested in Canadian waters, and failed. Further to comments made in this forum, the price of a ticket for a float plane with all the added charges works out to no less than
$130, which is a far cry from the $25 to $50 envisaged by Mr.Stein. As for Mr. Stein's Alberta base, maybe a successful oil drilling province can teach and unsuccesful maritime provice a few lessons on how to be technically successful.
Regards,
An excited future passenger.

[NMcKay]

That would be fine. if the technology employed by the rest of the world works here. i understand that Alberta has a nice oil business, and it would be nice if the rest of the world liked to work in that business, but that just ain't the case darling. ill use that harbourlynx as an example. the jet technology employed by the rest of the world, just wont work, because of the logs that frequent the straight of georgia.

[Barnacle]

...and the fact that there isn't much to do within walking distance of the waterfront in Nanaimo didn't help either. ;D

[Mike C]

barnacle said:

...and the fact that there isn't much to do within walking distance of the waterfront in Nanaimo didn't help either. ;D

You could ride the Quinsam, as long as you don't mind your truck in the water.

[Neil]

Christy Buzzi: So you drill some holes in the ground, extract a product that nature has provided you in abundance, and flog it at unconscionable prices to an unfortunate world that's developed a serious addiction to it. Congratulations. You're a "successful oil drilling province".

Best of luck to Mr Stein. It would be great to have a successful high speed service to the Island; but we've heard these stories before, and until he completes his first revenue crossing, he's just another adventurer who probably doesn't know this market from, let's see,... a hole in the ground.

[Northern Exploration]

There is an interesting parallel between this discussion and one BCinNJ and I had recently concerning the numerous failed cross Lake Ontario services from Toronto to Rochester or Queenston etc. Most recently was the Cat service which failed. No matter who is hehind it, it never takes off properly and is doomed to failure. It seems that this is much the same for high speed service between downtown Vancouver and Victoria or Nanaimo. Hopefully someone will find a way especially with the Olympics coming up. As for Toronto across the Lake I don't think the time has come to make it work. Put a Casino in Rochester with top name entertainment etc. and maybe it would have a better chance.

[oceaneer77]

On the subject of high tech not working in our waters due to logs...

I n 1997 we sailed into Hong Kong.. the water here was brown and full of logs, pallets, animals, and things that i do not want to remember. The water was so full of junk that our tenders Volvo douprops fouled every trip to shore. What a joy for me the engineer!

but in this muck high speed catamarans and hydrofoils jockeyed for position like some bad rush hour drivers in Mexico city!
The transportation matrix in south east Asia and Hk is truly amazing and makes our system look like a throw back to the dark ages of shoveling coal.
That is if you forget the Star ferry.

So how do the Asians do this and we cannot manage?
The water in Hk harbor was at best 200% more fouled than our waters.
In 1997 they had more high speed craft than i can describe with any credibility, all operating with out subsidies and at the same time making a profit?

Thanks
Oceaneer77

for you ferry nuts google the star ferry it is quite a trip

[Barnacle]

I hate to disappoint you, Cascade, but I agree. I don't think it's a practical reality, no matter what someone with 'a lot of money and a magic marker' thinks.