Westermoen Hydrofoil

rdf:langString Westermoen Hydrofoil

rdf:langString Norway

rdf:langString Westermoen Hydrofoil was a shipyard located in Mandal, Norway, which has specialized in high speed craft, and pioneered many designs. The yard was established in 1961 by Toralf Westermoen, who had also started Westermoen Båtbyggeri og Mek Verksted. The yard began producing hydrofoil craft under license from Italian . The first boat, Westfoil, with a top speed of 38 knots, was finished in 1962 and was delivered to the Bahamas. After that, a number of small and large (models PT20 and PT50) hydrofoils were built for passenger traffic in western Norway, in the Oslofjord, Øresund, Bahamas and in Greece. 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, began. The Westamaran 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. 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 HSS 900 catamaran for Stena Line in 1997. The shipyard went bankrupt shortly afterwards, leading to Stena Line being unable to claim compensation for corrosion later found to the aluminium alloy hull on the vessel (Stena Carisma).