Hydrofoil

Waves batter the port of Rafina in Attica. Ferries remained tied up at the ports of Piraeus, Rafina, and Lavrio on Sunday and Monday due to gale-force winds reaching up to 9 Beaufort in some places. Hydrofoils that service the Argo-Saronic Gulf islands (Salamina, Aegina, Hydra, Poros and Spetses) were also prohibited from sailing.

Ships in various Greek ports were unable to dock on Saturday due to strong northerly winds that reached up to 9 on the Beaufort scale in certain parts of the Aegean Sea.

Rafina and Lavrio ports remained closed, as did the Rio-Antirio maritime route. In northern Greece, ships were unable to sail between Alexandroupoli and Samothraki, Kavala and Prino, and Keramoti and Thassos.

Paris is testing a new form of travel: an eco-friendly, bubble-shaped taxi that zips along the water up and down the Seine River, the Associated Press reported.

This week, the organizers are running tests with a white, oval, enclosed electric hydrofoil boat raised to the so-called water wings and it looks like a small space shuttle that glides along the sights of Paris.

A hydrofoil travelling in the Saronic Gulf, south of Athens, was forced to return to Piraeus port on Tuesday afternoon due to a technical failure that did not allow its hull to lift, according to state-run news agency ANA-MPA.
The vessel, carrying 86 passengers onboard, was on its way back to Athens's main port in slow speed.

Hydrofoil company Ilida Paxos announced this week that it will be starting direct coastal shipping links between the Ionian islands on May 1.

The 30-meter-long, 6-meter-wide High Speed Azimut, which can carry 260 passengers, will connect Greece's westernmost islands for the first time, with Monday-Saturday services until October 31.