Posted on 11/07/2006 11:04:18 AM PST by FLOutdoorsman
Sightings - A pontoon vessel passes through Ilwaco, Wash., but those involved with the strange boat aren't talking
It looked like Spiderman's own ride, a 99-foot mystery craft resembling a monstrous metallic spider riding on two pontoons. It emerged from a fog bank to dock at the Port of Ilwaco, Wash., then left the next day with the crew refusing to talk.
Even as answers on who built the boat are now surfacing, the vessel remains an enigma. Pictures of the craft shoot across cyberspace while chat sites ponder just what the boat could be used for. But the inventor remains mum.
It turns out that a California inventor named Ugo Conti holds a patent for such a vessel. Conti, who has nine other registered patents, owns a company called Marine Advanced Research, in El Cerrito, Calif. He could not be reached for comment, but Conti's wife, Isabella, acknowledged the craft was owned by Marine Advanced Research. She said everyone involved with the boat was operating under strict confidentiality agreements.
"We're planning a press conference in January, given that the boat is not yet finished," she said.
She offered no more details.
The boat first began drawing curious stares when it surfaced in September.
In the Olympic Peninsula village of Sequim, Wash., in mid-September, people were shocked when they saw the bizarre vessel offshore. Was it military? Could it be a private yacht? No one could get close.
By Sept. 29, it had moored overnight on the southern Washington coast at the Port of Ilwaco, allowing photographers to document the boat's existence and spread the news through the yachting community.
"When we saw it, the fog was coming in and all you could see was the legs, and it was like, 'where did the big spider come from?' It was creepy," said Melissa Stern, who works at the Port. "It generated a lot of interest."
The crew, dressed in civilian clothes, slept on board and declined to discuss their craft. The boat carried no identifying marks, as is typically required for all motorized vessels. The U.S. Coast Guard in Washington, D.C., said it had no record of such a vessel. The next morning the boat vanished out to sea.
The crew did leave behind clues, however.
After docking and paying the moorage fees, the captain of the vessel wrote in Port records that it was owned by Advanced Marine Research Inc. and had a registration number of DL 0899 AA. That number meant it was registered in Delaware. A spokeswoman for the boat licensing arm of the state said the details contained in boat registration records were private, except for the fact the vessel had just recently been registered in Delaware. Yet the boat apparently was manufactured only recently -- in Washington.
The mystery ship was apparently built in Anacortes, Wash., under the direction of Jim Antrim, a California yacht designer. A call to his office resulted in a polite no comment, echoing Isabella Conti's confidentiality agreement.
A call to the Dakota Creek shipyard in Anacortes was not returned. The boat had been seen there this summer, said a spokesman for the harbor master's office.
Ugo Conti's patent, approved in April 2005, offers some clues, describing the craft this way:
The boat is ". . . an entirely different type of vessel that creates the minimum possible disruption of the waves. In other words, this vessel does not push, slap or pierce the waves but instead 'dances' with them. . . . The vessel has a pair of flexible hulls flexibly coupled to a 'cabin' between and above the hulls, thereby allowing the hulls to independently follow the surface of the water. Motor pods are hinged to the back of the hulls to maintain the propulsion system in the water. . . ."
The patent lists possible uses as rescue or patrol vessels, pleasure craft, military uses or research vessels for deployment of submarines or other instruments.
The patent notes the boat could potentially move at 60 knots or more per hour with a range of 2,000 miles.
After leaving Ilwaco on Sept. 30, the boat was not seen again until early October, when it moored at the Marine Bay Yacht Harbor in Richmond, Calif.
As of Monday, it was still tied up in San Francisco Bay. A spokesman for the moorage said he was not allowed to discuss the vessel.
Peter Sleeth: 503-294-4119; petersleeth@news.oregonian.com
Is it THIS one????
http://www.pbase.com/warthog2100/image/68769591
Could someone post this photo here?
I hove NO skills..
Where do you put the beer cooler and the babes in or out of bikini's
oops spoke too soon. I see, cabin is suspended. Still fugly! Maybe if they could do it on a smaller scale. Footprint is huge.
My guess is it would be for Americas Cup races. They are always from New England states.
Thanks for the pics. The story had none. Interesting vessel.
Carolyn
"The boat first began drawing curious stares when it surfaced in September."
It's a submarine!
Nicccccce!!!
Mook Bark
wont fit in my garage....or on a trailer
Good one-hit-wonder song.........
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