New sailing ferry between Dover and Boulogne to to trail in September

Concerto

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Sail as a foot passenger to France on a catamran in 4 hours. A fully green method of transport as they have electic propulsion as well. They have even arranged for mobile border agents for Boulogne. Not cheap at £85 single or £150 return. That is the plan. Somehow doubt it will be financially viable.

The new 'green' ferry service - from Kent to France in four hours
 
Cheaper to take our own boats.

I think its an interesting experiment and wish them luck.

I can see this appealing to middle income and wealthier retired people who are eco conscious but still want to travel and explore
 
A fully green method of transport as they have electic propulsion as well
Really?

Where do they get this electricity from to power the engines? That would be a lot of batteries and they would have to ensure they were 100% charged by renewable electricity from wind turbines or solar to be "fully green"

If the power to drive the electric propulsion is in any way derived from fossil fuel then it is not "fully green" and is instead a load of greenwash
 
Really?

Where do they get this electricity from to power the engines? That would be a lot of batteries and they would have to ensure they were 100% charged by renewable electricity from wind turbines or solar to be "fully green"

If the power to drive the electric propulsion is in any way derived from fossil fuel then it is not "fully green" and is instead a load of greenwash

Some people choose the smallest hills to die on
 
I'd expect something like this for such a venture, very low drag allowing electric propulsion to be viable along with a decent crossing time.

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sounds like a great way to get some cheap first small boat sailing. But the idea of saying "It will take 4 hours" as though thats in any way predictable is hilarious, when they presumably don't have enough power to motor the whole way. They might get the odd few green freaks doing it just because they feel they have to. But most will be doing it because its more adventurous and they'll probably love it. People who are cycling into the continent would probably much prefer to be pedal then wind then pedal all the way. A big (y)(y)(y) from me
 
I want to like this. I don’t even think it’s expensive. I’d even volunteer to help crew at that price. But I can’t really see it as commercially viable / sustainable.
 
I want to like this. I don’t even think it’s expensive. I’d even volunteer to help crew at that price. But I can’t really see it as commercially viable / sustainable.
From a men in suits thinking about share holders perspective I'm sure you're right. But I expect its entirely feasible if looked at in another way. Money wise it depends on how much debt they are in, if they took out a huge loan it won't work. If the boat is paid off already, donated, or by some sort of WEF 2030 green agenda grant then a few trips a week would cover running costs. Then its crew wages, if the skipper and maybe some crew lives aboard and doesn't have to pay an insanely out of proportion to average earnings mortgage for a house to the banking cartel he might not need much cash wages. There are loads of people in this country preferring to live in yurts and vans than bend over to the banksters for a brick home, or they have no choice. There are desperate city kids willing to "work on organic farms for free", essentially submit themselves to what looks like cotton picking slavery, working just for subsistence and no money. The ones I've met at a place I know who does it are usually kids looking for meaning and escape rather than dedicated to organic farming. They'd get something out of it usually, some experience and knowledge, make some contacts, if nothing else just time in the country. They'd crew for Greta for food and a bunk, work up some experience and who knows, get a commercial skippering qualification perhaps. If the organisers were plugged into the volunteering world and the world of over excited extinction rebellionists I expect this is feasible.
 
Just found their website Home Page and yes they already own the boat so it won't fail easily unless they just can't be bothered anymore. Family affair with father and son commercial endorsed yachtmaster tickets. They say "cannot rule out delays or changes to the schedule - so just as for any other type of transport." That's a bit disingenuous, it is far more prone to change than any other type of transport except hot air ballooning across the channel perhaps. I wonder what weather they will sail in. Its bound to put pressure on them to sail in worse conditions than they might feel ideal, they'll be caught between not wanting to disappoint people who won't fully understand why its cancelled and not wanting to give people a bad experience.

No surprises they are all in on the WEF 2030 and suicidal net zero agendas. "We support the global commitment to halve emissions by 2030 and reach Net Zero as soon as possible before 2050."

Thats not a surprise though as even if they didn't believe it that's the current grift to get backing and open doors these days.

I wonder about them when I read this though:

"Which way will SailLink advance ?
Will it take inspiration and the methods developed for yacht racing, so perhaps to see hydro-foiling sailing vessels gliding people between the coasts of England and France, thereby making the ride smoother and faster"

And seat of the soiled pants? I can't imagine more than 0.001% of the usual ferry clientele strapping on a crash helmet and clinging to their duty free for dear life.

They go on: "Or will it be to use tried and tested sailing methods to provide true adventure and active travel, thereby integrating the passenger as an essential contributing element of sailing the ship ?"

So this will be called progress:

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Meanwhile private jets will be our overlords continued mode of transport. In a way I'm ok with all this. The world got too small. Nowhere is an adventure to get to. When it goes back to Grand Tour by donkey travel will once again be an epic undertaking.
 
Oh I don't think foiling is forever going to be the preserve of crash hats and emergency air. Eventually it will trickle down to this sort of application perfectly safely.

I rather suspect that there might be a market for this. Good luck to them.
 
It won't for the same reason foiling ferries are only used in a few places like Honkers; it's not very practical, wallop some flotsam and you need to dock for repairs.
 
Having looked at their website, I am even more of the view that this is a dream not reality. I hope I am proved wrong.
It will fail if the aim is to like for like replace diesel ferries. If the aim is to make profit it will fail. If the aim is to show that its a realistic way to get masses of people across the channel on time it will fail. If the aim is to have a costs covered by green investors with an agenda, taking a few dozen people across each day in the summer months and posturing as the beginnings of a realistic solution to give something for the WEF to point to while they ban us plebs using carbon fuels, extolling the virtues of a "green future" that will trap us in smart pods eating bugs, it will succeed. I stayed on a hippy commune (not really that but close enough for you to get the idea) for a while as some friends where there, an "eco living example space". They were making out its the future that all people need to follow but actually its so inefficient it would probably need culling of 90% of people and that is where the hair shirt and the business shirt happily intersect. Extinction rebellion means just that if you dig down to what their ideas would necessitate. But ignoring all that underlies it for £85 it should be a interesting day out. If I was that side of the country I would sign up right now.
 
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