NavList:

George!! You are positively encyclopaedic! The aspect of the ferry that you failed to mention is that the controls for the Voith-Schneider system which the skipper uses are enough to confuse any sane person.

The last time I passed by the narrow neck between N & S Bruny - 12 months ago - it was still intact. I'll look again on 11 Feb.

Interesting anomaly with the name: the island is named after Bruni d'Entrecasteaux but somewhere the "i" turned to a "y". Similarly the nearby Huon river was named after Huon de Kermadec (spelling OK here).

Sorry another frolic of irrelevance..

Mike



George Huxtable <george@HUXTABLE.U-NET.COM> wrote:

Peter Fogg wrote-
- am off to Tasmania soon. Wineglass Bay, Port
| Arthur, Bruny Island - here we come.

==============================

Visiting Bruny Island, Peter should not miss the little museum, facing the sea at Adventure Bay,
devoted to the many famous navigators who stopped there and watered their vessels at the nearby
stream. Bruny Island is an hour-glass shape with a wasp-waist that's hardly wider than the little
roadway, and seems to be in great danger of a breach. Hope it hasn't happened yet.

The ferry vessel, across d'Entrecastaux strait, is of some interest also. As well as I can remember,
it's driven by Voith-Schneider propellers, which spin about a VERTICAL axis under each end. The
pitch alters as they rotate, rather like the blades of a helicopter, allowing them to eject water in
any direction the captain fancies. This makes the vessel infinitely manoevrable. Some tugs use that
system, as does the Lymington - Yarmouth ferry, across the western Solent, in the UK. That
flat-bottomed ferry can perform evolution! s which can, and often does, take yachtsmen by surprise.

George.

contact George Huxtable at george@huxtable.u-net.com
or at +44 1865 820222 (from UK, 01865 820222)
or at 1 Sandy Lane, Southmoor, Abingdon, Oxon OX13 5HX, UK.