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varied groups with disparate interests have designed plenty of promising institu- tions, nations, civilizations. In the case of a municipal ferryboat, it appears they've designed the most commodious, most sen- suously pleasing, most efficient vessels in the century since the City took over the operation. That was two dozen ferryboats ago.

The first of the trio, now officially known as the Molinari class, is a week away from entering service as this is writ- ten. The second is outfitting at Provi- dence, R.I., and the third is awaiting sea trials at Marinette, Wisc. So their perfor- mance record is still far ahead - for com- plete details, see our February, 2040 edi- tion. But having arrived in New York last

September, the first, the Guy V. Molinari, has been in constant maneuvers off St.

George as her pilots and crew get the hang of her. Not only is she big - a full deck higher than any previous Staten Islander - she has a propulsion and steering system a little unlike anything before.

Back to the Future

The previous two classes of Staten

Islanders, the Barberi class and the Austen class, measuring 300 and 197 ft. overall respectively, and officially accommodat- ing 6,000 and 1,280 passengers, arrived in the early 1980s with Voith Schneider pro- pellers. "The Barberi and the Newhouse [the Barberi's sister] are the largest dou- ble-ended ferries with VSP," wrote Voith

Schneider Naval Architect Peter Sartori, from Heidenheim, Germany, "so we are proud that our propellers work on these ferries for some decades."

While the Alice Austen and John A.

Noble would be regulation-size in most locales, they're minis by New York stan- dards. But the Barberis were, until the

Molinaris, the biggest Staten Islanders of all time, and "the propellers size 40

GII/240 which are installed on the Barberi class ferries are the biggest Voith Schnei- der propellers of their time." And in fact, as far as physical dimensions are con- cerned, "they are still the biggest units.

Now we are able to produce smaller but more powerful propellers. The Barberi propellers had an input power of about 2,600 kW. Our most powerful propellers now are designed for an input power of about 4,100 kW."

The maneuverability of the VSP ferries has been a hit with the skippers, who over the years have voiced great satisfaction about entering their slips without banging the racks. To the mid-1960s-built

Kennedy class and all previous boats on the Whitehall-to-St. George run, the gauntlet of pilings has functioned almost as a landing platform, or funnel to ease the boat into dock after aiming in the general direction.

Direct wheelhouse control over diesel- electric power was the technical innova- tion of the Kennedys, to soften the blow (their predecessors, the Merrill class of the early 1950s, being steamboats). Each generation of vessels has sought better ways to cope with the demanding currents off the Whitehall terminal near the tip of

Manhattan. The North and East Rivers converge here, each with a powerful cur- rent; it is frequently said - we don't know if it's been demonstrated - that a ferryboat losing power would be spun in circles in the stream. Add Atlantic tides and the cel- ebrated winds off the Battery, and a few thousand commuters who dislike being

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