Westermoen Hydrofoil was a

shipyard A shipyard, also called a dockyard or boatyard, is a place where ships are built and repaired. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Dockyards are sometimes more associated with maintenance a ...

located in

Mandal A tehsil (, also known as tahsil, taluka, or taluk) is a local unit of administrative division in some countries of South Asia. It is a subdistrict of the area within a district including the designated populated place that serves as its administr ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

, which has specialized in high speed craft, and pioneered many designs. The yard was established in 1961 by

Toralf Westermoen Toralf Westermoen (July 5, 1914 – May 6, 1986) was a pioneer for the development of high speed craft in Norway. Westermoen was involved in the companies ''Båtservice Verft'', '' Westermoen Båtbyggeri og Mek. Verksted '', '' Westermoen Hydro ...

, who had also started

Westermoen Båtbyggeri og Mek Verksted A/S Westermoen Båtbyggeri og Mek Verksted was a shipyard located in Mandal, Norway, who specialized in high speed craft. Under the leadership of Toralf Westermoen in the 1950s, the yard has produced a long range of high speed boat types, such a ...

. The yard began producing

hydrofoil A hydrofoil is a lifting surface, or foil, that operates in water. They are similar in appearance and purpose to aerofoils used by aeroplanes. Boats that use hydrofoil technology are also simply termed hydrofoils. As a hydrofoil craft gains sp ...

craft under license from

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

Supramar. The first boat, ''Westfoil'', with a top speed of 38 knots, was finished in 1962 and was delivered to the

Bahamas The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to ...

. After that, a number of small and large (models PT20 and PT50) hydrofoils were built for passenger traffic in

western Norway Western Norway ( nb, Vestlandet, Vest-Norge; nn, Vest-Noreg) is the region along the Atlantic coast of southern Norway. It consists of the counties Rogaland, Vestland, and Møre og Romsdal. The region has no official or political-administrativ ...

, in the

Oslofjord The Oslofjord (, ; en, Oslo Fjord) is an inlet in the south-east of Norway, stretching from an imaginary line between the and lighthouses and down to in the south to Oslo in the north. It is part of the Skagerrak strait, connecting the Nor ...

Øresund Øresund or Öresund (, ; da, Øresund ; sv, Öresund ), commonly known in English as the Sound, is a strait which forms the Danish–Swedish border, separating Zealand (Denmark) from Scania (Sweden). The strait has a length of ; its width v ...

, Bahamas and in

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

. Towards the end of the 1960 they built the world's then-largest hydrofoil, the "Expressen", that could carry 250 passengers. The boat did not achieve the intended design speed of 38 knots, and the contract was annulled. This was the beginning of the end of the hydrofoil epoch in Mandal. After this, development of a new class of high speed vessel, the

catamaran A Formula 16 beachable catamaran Powered catamaran passenger ferry at Salem, Massachusetts, United States A catamaran () (informally, a "cat") is a multi-hulled watercraft featuring two parallel hulls of equal size. It is a geometry-stab ...

, began. The

Westamaran The Westamaran is a pioneer type of passenger transport high speed catamarans developed by Westermoen Hydrofoil in 1973. The craft was highly successful, and introduced a new era of passenger transport along the Norwegian coast and elsewhere. ...

type, constructed by commander Harald Henriksen and introduced in 1973, was very successful, and a new era of high speed craft in Norway and elsewhere was begun. NOU 1994:
Om sikkerhet og forhold som har betydning for norsk hurtigbåtnæring
Regjeringen.no, retrieved 23 March 2013 Towards the end of the 1980s the yard changed name to Westamarin. Westamarin closed in the end of the 1990s. One of the final ships produced was a single

High-speed Sea Service High-speed Sea Service or Stena HSS was a class of high-speed craft developed by and originally operated by Stena Line on European international ferry routes. The HSS 1500 had an in-service speed of 40 knots (75 km/h). Several patent ...

HSS 900 catamaran for

Stena Line Stena Line is a Swedish shipping line company and one of the largest ferry operators in the world. It services Denmark, Germany, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Latvia, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland and Sweden. Stena Line is a major unit of Ste ...

in 1997. The shipyard went

bankrupt Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debt ...

shortly afterwards, leading to

being unable to claim compensation for corrosion later found to the

aluminium Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. I ...

alloy hull on the vessel (''Stena Carisma'').

Productions

SS: *1969 Nefelin 3 *1973 Juvikingen *1973 Solundir *1983 Vøringen W86: *1971 Fjordglytt *1971 Kosterfjord, bnr 21 *1972 Fjordtroll, bnr 24 *1972 Mayflower *1972 Karmsund *1973 Kongsbussen, bnr 27 *1973 Hertugbussen, bnr 28 *1973 Tedno, bnr 29 *1973 Koegelwieck, bnr 32 *1973 Olavsbussen *1973 Haugesund, bnr 35 *1975 Storesund, bnr 41 *1975 Fjordkongen, bnr 42 *1975 Brynilen, bnr 44 *1975 Øygar, bnr 45 *1976 Fjorddronningen, bnr 46 *1976 Highland Seabird, bnr 47 *1976 Fjorddrott, bnr 48 *1977 Fjordprinsessen, bnr 49, Avdeling Alta *1977 Steigtind, bnr 50, Avdeling Alta *1978 Mediteran, bnr 54 *1978 Hornøy 3, bnr 66 Avdeling Alta *1978 Marina 1, bnr 67 Avdeling Alta W95: *1974 Vingtor, bnr 36 *1974 Sleipner, bnr37 *1975 Sunnhordland, bnr 38 *1975 Martini Bianco, bnr 40 *1975 Westjet, bnr 43 *1977 Draupner, bnr 51 *1977 Tunen, bnr 52 *1977 Tranen, bnr 53 *1977 Pegasus *1979 Tumleren *1981 Alisur Amarillo, bnr 79 *1981 Tromsprinsen, bnr 80 *1981 Celestina, bnr 81, Avdeling Alta *1982 Venture 83, bnr 83 *1982 Venture 84, bnr 84 W88: *1981 Haugesund, bnr 78, Avdeling Alta *1981 Midthordaland, bnr 82 *1985 Skogøy *1986 Fjordsol W100: *1980 Gimle Belle, bnr 75 *1981 Gimle Bird, bnr 76 *1981 Gimle Bay, bnr 77

References

External links

Westfoil
{{coord, 58, 1, 29, N, 7, 27, 31, E, type:landmark_region:NO_dim:780, display=title Shipbuilding companies of Norway Defunct companies of Norway Shipyards of Norway