The change made for faster boats in a competition that is sailed mostly downwind.

"You add bigger boats or faster boats as the demand grows."

The Athenians built 2,400 homes there in the 1970s, when faster boats made the trip easier, nearly doubling the previous number of houses on Aegina.

Traffickers increasingly operate offshore, taking advantage of better arms, faster boats and more efficient tracking equipment than those available to local security forces.

The faster boats - ultra-light-displacement monohulls known as "sleds" or "turbo-sleds," are scheduled to set sail Saturday.

This summer, he added with pride, faster boats were delivered to Barbate's Civil Guard.

There was now a regular ferry schedule; faster boats had cut journey times to an hour.

"The push in the ferry industry now is toward faster and faster boats," Ms. Baffa said.

Mr. Voetch has even grander plans, with even faster boats.

With the advent of faster boats, day trips using the Dún Laoghaire port have become more popular.