6 January 2017

Has the Captain Cook Memorial Jet shrunk?

| Masquara
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Captain Cook Memorial Jet

Does the Captain Cook Memorial Jet seem smaller to you? Here’s what reader Masquara reckons…

Remember when the Captain Cook Memorial Jet was magnificent? When spray from the jet would hit your windscreen as you drove across Commonwealth Bridge? It is impressive no longer. The height appears to have at least halved, and it just looks like any old fountain.

Part of that million dollars spent on Westside would have been better spent making sure the water jet was maintained at its intended height.

What do other rioters think?

Do you think the height of the Captain Cook Memorial Jet shrunk since reopening?

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It’s certainly shrunk since it first went in.
But Canberra, as a creative , inventive, testing ground for new social & technical ideas has shrunk too.
This year we get a tram instead of the Rapid Overhead Transit transport that was on offer.
Guess who’s trying the Rapid Overhead Transit that we could have had if we were more inspired & inspiring? Adelaide.
We have lost the opportunity of substantial benifits, both social & economic, that can, and frequently do come from innovation with a new technology. Canberra was too afraid to take a chance.

It’s just one of those things that happen as you get older.

Arthur Davies4:35 pm 06 Jan 17

I had some minor part of the jet project originally. It has 2 motors, with one running it is at the low height you see now, with both motors running you get the jet at full height as the designers intended. Given that tourism is such an important issue in Canberra, funds should be made available to see it in full, among the highest in the world. Surely since all Australians paid for it out of taxes, they are entitled to their full money’s worth, it is not supposed to be the famous little the boy peeing in the pool, that is in Europe!

I heard the Greens had insisted it be fitted with a flow restrictor to be consistent with the regulations we have for our home showers.

That sounds fair to me.

davo101 said :

Yes and no. The jet has always had two speeds and apparently the NCA is too poor to afford to run it on full.

A quick back-of-the-envelope suggests that it costs about $140 an hour on half and $280 on full, so I guess that they don’t have the spare 100k a year lying around to go the whole-hog.

Such a shame – Westside cost us 10 years worth of the water jet at full strength. The latter would have been much better value!

Yes and no. The jet has always had two speeds and apparently the NCA is too poor to afford to run it on full.

A quick back-of-the-envelope suggests that it costs about $140 an hour on half and $280 on full, so I guess that they don’t have the spare 100k a year lying around to go the whole-hog.

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