The hull was fabricated using a DivinyceIl foam core construction, Vectorply stitched multiaxial fabrics and BASF vinyleste r resins. Two Cummins QSM-II dieseIs rate d at 432 kW at 2,300 rpm directly drive HamiltonHJ 362 waterjets.A single saloon is fitted out with 60 seats, a kiosk and two toilets aft. Stairs on the rea r t deck lead to an upper viewing platformoFollowing builder's trials in the 'Roaring Forties' during August and September, 54 foil assisted marine catamaran F iordos del Sur, Fiordos del Sur left the Alwoplast yard on October 8 on its delivery voyage down the west coast of Chile to Puerto Natales.The company reports, "The six day trip, with stops for refuelling in QueIlón, Puerto Chacabuco and Puerto Eden was flawless. At an average speed of 30 knots, the 2.5 hour Golfo de Penas crossing was was launched in mid June and entere d service just over four months later.An order was placed and the cruiser hull was adapted for a new role. According to Alwoplast, "Seakeeping and seaworthiness were still a very high priority but the design speed was reduced to 35 knots for passen- ger comfort." The single saloon is fitted out for 60 passengers Alwoplast

Fiordos del Sur

Fiordos del Sur was built by Alwoplast, a German managed company based in Val- divia. Established in 1987, it specializes in custom built composite sandwich catama- rans and currently employs 39 staff.Alwoplast is best known for purposedesigned motor yachts and a few years ago it added a set of foils designed in South Africa by Professor Hoppe to a 15m cata- maran. The company was so impressed with the improvement in performance that it commissioned Professor Hoppe's com- FASTcc provided the hull lines, hydro- dynamic calculations and foil design o f Fiordos del Sur while Alwoplast wasresponsible for the overall concept, styling and interior designo Another Chilean com- a record." A yard in Chile has delivered its first fast ferry. The 60 seat vessel, FASTcc NewCa p any, Navtec, contributed structural design, finite element analysis and computational fluid dynamics studies. p any, FASTcc, to produce a design for a high speed cruiser that would have a sprin t speed of 50 knots.The resulting design was a 14m asym-metric, waterjet powered, planing catama- ran with a tandem fixed foil system. When the first hull was close to completion, how- ever, Alwoplast was approached by a hotel group that was planning to introduce a high speed excursion vessel in the rough waters of the Patagonian channels in southern Chile. A lwoplast FASTcc NewCat 54 Fiordos del Sur entered service in Chile in lateOctobe.r