Photo by Dennis Oda, Star-Bulletin
Pacific Marine & Supply Co. executives Steven Loui,
right, and Gary Shimozono stand before a 12-foot model of the
new SWAS midfoil ship design. The full-sized version
could serve as a 50-knot-plus ferry.
Pacific Marine & Supply Co., which created the Navatek tourist ships and last month launched its "Slice" vessel, is now working on a ship called "Midfoil SWAS" (short for "small waterplane area ship") at its Honolulu shipyard.
The 65-foot-long Midfoil SWAS is designed to provide a smooth, stable ride at speeds in excess of 50 knots, said Steven Loui, company president. The company just started construction of the new Midfoil prototype and sea trials are expected in mid-1997.
Last month, Pacific Marine launched its new 105-foot-long Slice prototype that is designed to reach 30 knots. Slice dips 14 feet under the water, moving on four pods, and so it is designed more for larger harbors and trips between islands, Loui said. It can carry 300 passengers.
In comparison, the Midfoil SWAS is designed to carry 149 passengers. "Most yacht harbors are nine-feet deep," said Loui. "The Midfoil SWAS has a shallow draft of eight feet."
The ship's near-surface hull is similar to an airplane wing to provide buoyancy and lift. The hull sits in the water on a pod in the middle of the ship that provides the propulsion. A smaller pod in the front is for stability.
One idea that has been floated for the Midfoil SWAS is as an Oahu ferry that could bring commuters down the coast from Barbers Point to Honolulu and Hawaii Kai. City officials have discussed the idea with the company but nothing has been decided, Loui said.
During the last 10 years, Pacific Marine has invested more than $12 million of its own capital in new ship design and construction. This push has been aided by federal grants totaling $9.6 million to the company, including $1.6 million for the Midfoil SWAS.
Still, financing is always the key hurdle to getting a new design into production.
But Loui is philosophical about the venture, saying he has been "playing with semi-submerged" vessel designs since 1976.
"In the marine business, it takes about 20 years for a new idea to sink in," he said.
Pacific Marine has been using an eight-person design group, known as the "Mongoose Works," to find the best ship design that combines stable ride and speed with less drag on ocean waters. The name was inspired by Lockheed Corp.'s "Skunk Works" design group that designed the U-2 spy plane and the F-117 Stealth fighter.
The Hawaii design team is headed by Gary Shimozono, who worked for defense contractors Rockwell International and Hughes Aircraft including on the design for the Star Wars defense system. Hawaii-born Shimozono worked on the motion-control system for the Slice prototype.
Also on the team is Eric Schiff, who had his own company, Super Hawaii, selling racing boats; Robert Gornstein, who worked on the design for the Boeing Jetfoil ship; John Kapolulu, a graduate of the Naval Academy with 20 years of maritime experience; Frank "Mac" McLaughlin III, who worked 30 years in ship repair and maintenance for the Navy; Jim Cummings, the "test pilot" for the first Navatek cruise ship; and Tom Croft, who has managed multi-million dollar ship construction projects in major shipyards.
Loui, also a team member, holds patents on the technology used for the Navatek cruise ships and the patent-pending on the Midfoil design. He became chief executive of the family-owned corporation in 1973 and grew it from a $8 million ship-repair operation into a broad-based group of industrial and service companies with annual sales of $57 million.
