The awesome boats thread

[DanRoM]

Not really awesome, but noteworthy nonetheless: The catamaran ferry Halunder Jet which used to operate between Hamburg and Heligoland, has apparently been sold and according to this German news it will be transported to the Canadian West coast to operate there between Vancouver and Vancouver Island.

I think it is curios that they transport a short-distance ferry halfway round the world...

 

[Eye-Q]

Well, the new ferry has been built literally on the other side of the world, in Australia, and the old ferry will be operated by another subsidiary of the same company. I'd guess the passenger numbers to Heligoland increased in the last years so the old ferry has become too small, and as long as it's size fits for Vancouver (or Seattle, according to other sources) the shipping there is still cheaper than a new ferry.

 

[MWF]

And if you think about it shipping and a refurb/repaint is still a damn sight cheaper than ordering a new boat.

 

[Blind_Io]

Not really awesome, but noteworthy nonetheless: The catamaran ferry Halunder Jet which used to operate between Hamburg and Heligoland, has apparently been sold and according to this German news it will be transported to the Canadian West coast to operate there between Vancouver and Vancouver Island.

I think it is curios that they transport a short-distance ferry halfway round the world...

Probably with a heavy-lift hauler, like the one used to transport the USS Cole after it was bombed.

 

[Cowboy]

On the topic of ferries, anyone have any idea how oceancrossing capable the big ones would be if the need arose? Like say the ones on the North sea? I can imagine they are fairly shallow draft and topheavy when empty.... that would not be much fun in the middle of the Atlantic.

 

[Blind_Io]

It depends very much on the ferry, there are oceangoing ferries that should be able to handle high seas just fine. The big thing is that most are not equipped for long voyages; they have minimal food and water storage, limited fuel stores, and sometimes don't have sleeping quarters for all the passengers.

 

[DanRoM]

The North Sea can be very rough, so ferries operating between mainland Europe and Great Britain are build for that and should be very capable - but probably not capable enough for a hurricane. But as Blind_Io said, they are not build for long voyages. In my thinking that means not only that they don't have the storage capacity for enough supplies, but also that they may be built with the fact in mind that with today's weather forecast capabilities, they will never be at sea in a really bad storm because except for a few, they are never more than a day from their port of call.

 

[calvinhobbes]

FWIW, the GTS Finnjet sailed to NOLA after Katrina to serve as housing for the Louisiana State University.

 

[Eye-Q]

 

[DanRoM]

I just watched a video that probably completely ruined "conventional" sailing yachts for me forever. I need a deck salon yacht from Sirius Werft.

The 40-footer is even more awesome, but I like this video better.

 

[Eye-Q]

How do you salvage a 25k+ ton capsized cargo ship filled with more than 4000 cars? Easy-ish: take two barges, build a steel contraption between those barges, cut through the cargo ship with heavy chains and put the sections on cargo barges...

A Chain Just Cut Through A Capsized Cargo Ship Filled With Cars And The Process Is Fascinating (UPDATE W/VIDEO)

Workers used a chain to cut off the first enormous chunk of ship, revealing mangled cars within. Here’s a look at the fascinating way the team pulled this off.

jalopnik.com

 

[calvinhobbes]

 

[DanRoM]

Yeah, that's what you get when you fly a boat.

In other awesome regatta news, the leaders of the Vendée Globe single-handed-nonstop-around-the-world race have timed their speed so that they honour Jules Verne by arriving back on the West coast of France after 80 days. And after rounding the world and racing for nearly three months the first five boats are within 200 nautical miles. This is spectacularly close.

The first boat to cross the finish line is expected to do so within the hour - but that may not be the winner. Three skippers have been granted time bonuses for their participation in the rescue of Kevin Escoffier whose boat broke in two and sunk two months ago off the Cape of Good Hope. And two of those are close enough to the leader that these time bonuses will for sure shake up the podium ranks and probably give the boat that's now in fifth place the win.

The tail end of the race is still somewhere just past the Falkland Islands... but they have much older boats that can't fly.

Mad respect for anyone doing this. Special mention to Samantha Davies, who retired in Cape Town because of damages to her boat, but continued outside of the ranking after repairs anyway because... she raises money for charity via her sponsors, and because sailing around the world is awesome.

 

[bone]

where do you follow those races?
i tried subscribing on youtube to america's cup, but they just post WAAAAAAAY to much

and it's never clear to me if this is a vid of a new race happing right now, or a retake of a race from a few weeks/months ago

 

[DanRoM]

where do you follow those races

In case of the Vendée Globe, I just used their website and YouTube channel. They have a daily live show (both in French and English) in a regular time slot, so that was easy to follow. And the rankings and tracker are on the website as well.

For the America's Cup and the qualifying races, I would also just try their website to get info on the schedule and the options for watching it. Otherwise, just catch the highlights on YouTube afterwards. Anything spectacular will inevitably end up there.

If your modus operandi is to just subscribe to a YouTube channel and wait for the videos, you probably have to change that.

Speaking of the VG, since last evening the first few finishers have arrived, and Yannick Bestaven has won thanks to his ten hour time bonus - he crossed the line third. Charlie Dalin took the line honours as the first to arrive.
Unfortunately Boris Herr Ann managed to collide with a fishing vessel less than 100 miles to the finish, ruining his good chances for a podium finish. He managed to limp home at 1/3 of the normal speed and finished in fourth place. Sailing 28000 nm and 100 nm before the finish, that happens. Ouch...

 

[Eye-Q]

I think the norwegians might have gone mad...

 

[GRtak]

That is less crazy than the channel tunnel. I do wonder how high the level of pollution will be in there. Maybe go to the front of the ship during transit.

 

[Eye-Q]

 

[Eye-Q]

The MV Yara Birkeland is the world's first fully autonomous electric cargo ship. Granted, at just 120 TEU it's pretty small compared to the large ships carrying the bulk of goods between the continents, but it's designed to replace up to 40.000 truck journeys a year between Herøya, Brevik and Larvik. There aren't many roads between those locations so relocating the transportation of goods is a good way to relieve the roads.

 

[DanRoM]

So the French (and a few international contestants) are at it again, this time "just" crossing the Atlantic from Le Havre in Northern France to Martinique, in this year's edition of the Transat Jacques Vabre.

Four classes, including the Imocas they also use for the Vendée Globe, the smaller Class 40 monohulls as well as trimarans like the Ultime class:

These giants are so fast that the race is 1800 nautical miles longer for them than for the already crazy fast smaller boats, just to have them all arrive at the finish at similar times...