A San Diego small company is making waves with a boat that doesn’t make waves.
The Mangia Onda Company announced one of its boats will be in service in Venice, Italy, by the end of the year. The $750,000 Vaporetto, at 65 feet, can ferry up to 150 passengers through the city’s famed canals, said Bill Burns, who founded the company along with Charles Robinson in 1998.
This is the third Mangia Onda boat to go to Venice. Two years ago, the city’s water transportation authority, Azienda Consorzio Trasporti Veneziano, purchased a prototype 23-foot water taxi, which seats 10, he said.
Also, in May, a private hotelier purchased Mangia Onda’s electric-powered Eco Barca. The 19-foot water taxi, which also seats 10, runs between the train station and several of the city’s hotels, Burns said.
The Mangia Onda boats get their name from the Italian words for “wave eater.” Not only does the boat produce little or no wake, it also “eats” the waves of other boats, offering a real solution to an insidious problem undermining Venice , wave damage.
“Since the streets of this city are water, the authorities were faced with the unique problem of reducing waves created by motorboats in order to protect the foundations of the buildings along the canals,” Burns said.
Mangia Onda solved the problem with its M-shaped hull. The wave from the bow curls into spirals that are trapped and channeled by the bow skirts into tunnels under the boat, where it is “eaten” and dissipated.
The M-shaped hull has several applications, including the military. The hull design is ideal for landing craft and patrol boats , and Burns added that due to recent developments, future military missions may rely more on smaller boats placed closer to shore.
Mangia Onda has even adapted its design for an 8-foot sailing dinghy. Here, the unusually shaped hull provides added stability, while the lack of a centerboard allows the craft to be brought right up onto the beach.
As an emerging company, Mangia Onda expects to be profitable by the fourth quarter of 2002. For more information, go to (www.mangiaonda.com).
