Hydrofoil Service Proposed For Vancouver-Victoria Run

SEATTLE - Boeing-built hydrofoils may return to Northwest waters after an absence of more than a dozen years.

Clipper Navigation of Seattle has teamed up with the Hong Kong owner of the world's largest Boeing jetfoil fleet to propose year-round jetfoil service between Vancouver, B.C., and Victoria. Clipper operates four high-speed catamarans and the Princess Marguerite III between Seattle and Victoria.

The bid is one of several international and British Columbia-based proposals seeking to start service between the B.C. cities.

Hydrofoils, with wing-like foils that lift their hulls out of the water, can travel up to 50 mph.

Clipper President Darrell Bryan said the joint venture has proposed bringing two of the 20 jetfoils owned by Far East Hydrofoil to a Vancouver shipyard for renovation. Beginning in the fall next year, they would carry up to 240 passengers from Vancouver possibly to Swartz Bay, north of Victoria.