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Displaying items by tag: Flagship ferry refit

#FlagshipRefit - The Iargest ferry on the Irish Sea the 50,938 tonnes Ulysses completed a Dublin-Holyhead crossing before departing Anglesey in the early hours of yesterday morning bound for an annual refit in Falmouth, writes Jehan Ashmore.

The flagship of Irish Ferries made what is understood to have been a 20 hour passage including the Celtic Sea before entering a drydock at A&P Falmouth last night in Cornwall.

The Finnish built flagship dating from 2001 was under the Irish flag, however for the past decade the 209 metre long vessel transferred to the Cypriot flag. She is to undergo a routine maintenance prior to beginning her 15th year in service.

Ulysses can carry 1,875 passengers, 1,372 cars and 300 trucks and is the fifth largest ferry in tonnage terms operating in UK waters. All these large ferries operate on North Sea routes to the Netherlands.

Taking Ulysses place on the Dublin route is Isle of Inishmore which repositioned from Rosslare-Pembroke duties and which in turn are been covered by Oscar Wilde. The Rosslare-based French seasonal services cruiseferry having completed Christmas sailings to boost capacity on the Holyhead service.

At the Cornish shiprepairer, conversion and maintenance facility is also the landing ship dock RFA Lyme Bay (L3007), coastal products tanker Whit Navigator and Wavewalker 1.

The latter craft based in Falmouth, is Fugro Seacore’s award-winning eight legged ‘walking’ jack-up rig that carried out maintenance work last year at the Arklow Arklow Bank Offshore Windfarm.

Published in Ferry

The Half Ton Class was created by the Offshore Racing Council for boats within the racing band not exceeding 22'-0". The ORC decided that the rule should "....permit the development of seaworthy offshore racing yachts...The Council will endeavour to protect the majority of the existing IOR fleet from rapid obsolescence caused by ....developments which produce increased performance without corresponding changes in ratings..."

When first introduced the IOR rule was perfectly adequate for rating boats in existence at that time. However yacht designers naturally examined the rule to seize upon any advantage they could find, the most noticeable of which has been a reduction in displacement and a return to fractional rigs.

After 1993, when the IOR Mk.III rule reached it termination due to lack of people building new boats, the rule was replaced by the CHS (Channel) Handicap system which in turn developed into the IRC system now used.

The IRC handicap system operates by a secret formula which tries to develop boats which are 'Cruising type' of relatively heavy boats with good internal accommodation. It tends to penalise boats with excessive stability or excessive sail area.

Competitions

The most significant events for the Half Ton Class has been the annual Half Ton Cup which was sailed under the IOR rules until 1993. More recently this has been replaced with the Half Ton Classics Cup. The venue of the event moved from continent to continent with over-representation on French or British ports. In later years the event is held biennially. Initially, it was proposed to hold events in Ireland, Britain and France by rotation. However, it was the Belgians who took the ball and ran with it. The Class is now managed from Belgium. 

At A Glance – Half Ton Classics Cup Winners

  • 2017 – Kinsale – Swuzzlebubble – Phil Plumtree – Farr 1977
  • 2016 – Falmouth – Swuzzlebubble – Greg Peck – Farr 1977
  • 2015 – Nieuwport – Checkmate XV – David Cullen – Humphreys 1985
  • 2014 – St Quay Portrieux – Swuzzlebubble – Peter Morton – Farr 1977
  • 2013 – Boulogne – Checkmate XV – Nigel Biggs – Humphreys 1985
  • 2011 – Cowes – Chimp – Michael Kershaw – Berret 1978
  • 2009 – Nieuwpoort – Général Tapioca – Philippe Pilate – Berret 1978
  • 2007 – Dun Laoghaire – Henri-Lloyd Harmony – Nigel Biggs – Humphreys 1980~
  • 2005 – Dinard – Gingko – Patrick Lobrichon – Mauric 1968
  • 2003 – Nieuwpoort – Général Tapioca – Philippe Pilate – Berret 1978

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