Sunday, November 25, 2007

HI Superferry: Army CoE Studies of Waves in Kahului Harbor‏

Well, as usual, John Garibaldi, gave some quotes in the Maui News yesterday that indicate he does not understand the results of government studies on the effects of waves in Kahului Harbor. I refer you to pages 38 thru 40, Figures 43 and 44 of the following Army Corp. of Engineers study. The whole thing is worth scanning through:

Try to access the report through this address:
http://libweb.wes.army.mil/uhtbin/cgisirsi/20071125201145/SIRSI/0/518/0/CHL-TR-02-21.pdf/Content/1?new_gateway_db=HYPERION
Here is the title info.: ERDC/CHL TR-02-21
by Edward F. Thompson and Zeki Demirbilek
Wave Climate and Wave Response, 2025 Plan, Kahului Harbor, Maui, Hawaii

BTW, I am told there is further correspondence from the Army Corp of Engineers to DOT and Superferry regarding wave action in Kahului, Harbor. I do not have copies of that yet, but am lead to believe it is significant and has already been obtained through FOI. I wonder if the bond holder of HI Superferry is aware of all of this?

The following pub. is regarding placement of sensors in Kahului Harbor that were used for the above study:
http://chl.erdc.usace.army.mil/Media/7/9/9/CERC-MP-94-10.pdf

The following is yesterday's article. It did get into some details, but I noticed the article missed some key points, and went in some misdirections away from some obvious lines of inquiry:
http://www.mauinews.com/news/2007/11/24/02ferry1124.html

The following article references the above Army Corp. of Engineers study. The article is worth reading:
http://www.mauinews.com/news/2007/3/9/01stu0309.html

I need to re-read the above ACoE study; but initially, it looks like this is a significant problem that the data from the Army Corp. of Engineers could have been used to foresee. On the otherhand, any Maui surfer could have told you this is not just an "analytical" problem; it is real, the ACoE were just able to measure it. Further, it is not just 1% of the time, try more like 10% of the time at Pier 2c.

Meanwhile, the Honolulu Advertiser has a couple of good articles today on preparations and logistical details, finally:
http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/current/ln/superferry
http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2007/Nov/25/ln/hawaii711250365.html

Aloha, Brad

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