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Post by Kahloke on Oct 12, 2023 15:38:55 GMT -8
The Chelan is back in service now... Ferry Alert: Ana/SJs - M/V Chelan Replaces M/V Issaquah as #1 VesselThe M/V Chelan has replaced the M/V Issaquah as the #1 Vessel. Customers can check the Anacortes / San Juan Islands Schedule for available upcoming sailings and the Real-Time Map for updated departures and arrivals This alert was sent on 10/12/2023 at 3:41PM to subscribers of the following routes: • Anacortes / San Juan Islands Good to have Chelan back. Now maybe Issaquah can replace Salish at Edmonds-Kingston and provide a vessel with more vehicle capacity and the ability to keep the schedule. I'm still puzzled by why Salish was not moved to San Juan Inter-island and Kitsap or Issaquah moved to Kingston. I'm sure there's a lot going on behind the scenes at WSF that we're simply not aware of, but having Salish doing inter-island makes a LOT more sense than trying to fill the shoes of a Jumbo or Jumbo Mark II on a very busy crossing.
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Post by Kahloke on Oct 12, 2023 12:23:16 GMT -8
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Post by Kahloke on Oct 11, 2023 5:09:42 GMT -8
I'm hoping whichever shipyard they choose can build these vessels quickly, not at the expense of quality, mind you. But, late 2027 as a start-service date for the next newbuild is a long way out when we have boats that are one major problem away from being retired. Others have said 2027 is optimistic, too, that it will likely push.
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Post by Kahloke on Oct 5, 2023 8:35:42 GMT -8
Having the sun deck open (and full passenger capacity of 1,500) on the Olympic class vessels requires two extra crew members (an AB and OS). Since they don't need the passenger capacity, WSF saves on crewing by not assigning the extra crew and not opening the sun deck.
If you want to see the sun deck on an Olympic, ride Chimacum while it is on the Seattle/Bremerton run. That route has sufficient crew assigned to open the sun deck.
It's also been periodically available on the Samish at Anacortes throughout the summer, which has been a nice addition and something that they continued from last year, although seemingly less frequent. Unfortunately, Samish's sun deck was not open on the Saturday of Labor Day weekend this year, and they maxed out the passenger capacity on the 9:05am Anacortes to Friday Harbor sailing. It made for a very crowded ship with everyone crammed in on the main passenger cabin level. I also rode Samish from Orcas last month, and the upper deck was, again, closed off.
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Post by Kahloke on Oct 1, 2023 18:00:06 GMT -8
Found this video on YouTube. It's all of Kitsap Transit's fast ferries crossing Puget Sound at the same time. I'm not sure if that really happened or if it's just some really tricky video editing piecing the different ferries together to make it seem like they were all travelling together. It may actually be real. They may have put all of the ferries together as a promotional thing or something. It appears to have been at SeaFair time, given that you can see the Blue Angels flying past the Space Needle in part of this video. In any case, it's a pretty cool video showcasing the different vessels Kitsap Transit operates.
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Post by Kahloke on Sept 25, 2023 9:26:05 GMT -8
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Post by Kahloke on Sept 21, 2023 16:55:39 GMT -8
Would it have been better to leave the Salish at San Juan Interisland and pull the Sealth for Edmonds or elsewhere? Feel like it may be the more capable ship. That's the obvious move. Requires a lot of shuffling but Walla Walla will be out for at least a month. Might be best to assign Sealth in place of an Issaquah-130 and move that to Edmonds-Kingston. For the amount of time they're expecting Big "W" to be out of service, it seems like a vessel swap among the routes is called for, but I don't know what vessel moves are planned right now. I would hope having Salish at Edmonds-Kingston is a very temporary thing, like no more than a week, but who knows? Yes, I think Salish should go back to SJI inter island, maybe send Sealth to Vashon, and Kittitas or Cathlamet to Kingston, but then again, F-V-S only has two boats, so losing capacity there isn't ideal, either. There is no quick fix here. Probably the least costly option in terms of moving vessels is to simply switch out Salish for Sealth at Kingston. Glad I don't have to make those decisions!
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Post by Kahloke on Sept 21, 2023 7:10:30 GMT -8
Apparently the Salish didn't work out well on the Bainbridge route... Ferry Alert: Edm/King - Salish Replaces Puyallup Wednesday, Sept. 20Tomorrow, the 64-vehicle Salish will need to move from Seattle/Bainbridge to Edmonds/Kingston to replace the 202-Vehicle Puyallup. While technically safe, the Salish is not appropriate for operation on the Bainbridge route, specifically at Bainbridge, where it doesn’t fit well in the slip. To address this, tomorrow morning the Salish will move to the Edmonds/Kingston route, where it can operate more easily. It might be better than on the Bainbridge route, but it's still a huge mismatch. It would be like assigning Quadra Queen II or Tachek to Route 1 or Route 2. As evidence, here is today's alert: wsdot.com/ferries/schedule/bulletin.aspx
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Post by Kahloke on Sept 12, 2023 18:38:54 GMT -8
When you read thru this tread it's interesting how things have gone over the years. Federal Funding for Rapid Charge has evaporated. Sounds like the 1st - 6 Island Class will remain Hybrids and the next 4 will be all electric. Hopefully with the New Terminal builds at Crofton & Vesuvius and 2 New Elec Island Class (that's a lot of hoping) will they have Rapid Charge on both sides? The Wolfe Islander IV is an interesting build and after an almost 2 year wait, it's about to enter service. I really like the idea of roll on, roll off similar to the Quinsam. Straightforward proposition, no overhead ramps, no more being sentenced to bilge. I think it and bigger sister could serve BC Ferries well. Thought's? I moved the post above into this thread because it specifically relates to Wolfe Islander IV, and this thread has a pretty good discussion on that vessel. I agree with you 100% about the Wolfe Islander design being a good fit for BC Ferries. At +/-75 cars, there are at least a few routes I think would be a good fit for such a craft. Replacing Baynes Sound Connector is one route I immediately thought of. I know, I know, BSC is still very new, but the whole cable thing was a fiasco from the start (in my opinion), and it's locked BC Ferries into a vessel that is too small for the route. An electric vessel would be the perfect solution there. No cables, and a much needed bump in capacity. Yes, I know it will be a cold day in you-know-where before they would ever admit BSC "cable thingy" is a failure, so I suppose this idea is a bit of a non-starter, but thought I would put it on the table anyway. Two of those boats could be useful on Route 4. Fulford Harbour cannot grow in size, so deploying two 75 car vessels there would be an increase in capacity over a single Skeena Queen without having to expand the holding area. Skeena could then be a backup vessel, or perhaps move to Route 6? I'm talking hypothetically here, folks, and likely a number of years out, when Quinsam and Quinitsa would be retired. And, yes, I know Route 6 is slated to get two new Island Class vessels, but I wonder if that is the best solution when you consider the shortage of maritime workers both locally and around the world? Both BC Ferries and WSF are plagued with sailing cancellations due to crewing issues, and it's not a problem I see going away anytime soon. Does it make sense to replace a single vessel with 2 smaller vessels where more crew is needed? That seems to be the direction BC Ferries is going with several routes, at present. Maybe the Wolfe Islander IV design would give BC Ferries another option for routes that could use that capacity. I think Campbell River-Quadra Island would be a logical place for one, among others. The two Island Class vessels there could be re-deployed to other routes as older vessels age out. Anyway, these are just some of my rambling thoughts. Take it for what its worth.
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Post by Kahloke on Sept 7, 2023 5:00:55 GMT -8
I like it better than their old Eurowings livery.
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Post by Kahloke on Sept 3, 2023 17:51:27 GMT -8
On kind of a whim, went to San Juan Island yesterday to see English Camp because I had never actually been there, and it's been a long time (several years) since I've been to Friday Harbor. Usually just go to Orcas to see family. So, we drove up to Anacortes, a 2 hour drive from where we live in Gig Harbor, grabbed breakfast at Calico Cupboard in Anacortes, which is soooo good btw - then headed out to the ferry, parked the car, and walked on the 9:05am MV Samish sailing to Friday Harbor. I'm not sure, but they may have been close to breaking some records with the number of walk-ons for that particular sailing. The crews definitely had their counters out, and I know they left some cars behind to accommodate all of the walk-ons; hopefully, just the ones on standby. It was a packed sailing, for sure, and unfortunately, the upper passenger deck was not open, so everyone was vying for space on the main passenger level. There were still seats available, though. We got to Friday Harbor, then hopped on the shuttle bus which took us out to English Camp. It's a pretty cool little park, and a national park, at that. It's got an interpretive center in what was the old barracks hall, and the block house and garden are still there. Quite a few trails to go hiking on; we did the Bell Point Trail which goes from Garrison Bay around the point to Wescott Bay. We were there for a little over an hour, then caught the next shuttle back to Friday Harbor, and the 1:55pm MV Kaleetan sailing back to Anacortes - then drove home. So, just a day trip, but it was fun. The ferry ride back to Anacortes was unsurprisingly not very full.
This is a video I captured of our departure from Friday Harbor. It starts with Salish pulling into the tie-up slip to let foot passengers off before moving over to the main slip after our ferry (Kaleetan) departed. At 3:13 in the video, Kaleetan sounded her whistle, so extra bonus for that. The cars backing onto Kaleetan just before we pulled out were heading to Lopez, in case anyone is wondering why cars would be backing onto the ferry.
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Post by Kahloke on Sept 3, 2023 12:23:26 GMT -8
More discussion on 'Seven Sisters' (V/B class) history can be found in this thread:
Perhaps a moderator could consolidate the two threads ? Per WettCoast's suggestion, I have merged both of the 7 Sisters threads into one. This is the thread to be used going forward when discussing or sharing information on this vessel class as a whole.
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Post by Kahloke on Aug 25, 2023 6:11:12 GMT -8
From the Weekly Update posted yesterday: wsdot.wa.gov/travel/washington-state-ferries/about-us/weekly-updateWhen this was first reported, I wondered if they had struck Broken Point, that little peninsula that juts out on the north end of Shaw at the eastern end of Wasp Passage. The ferry usually has to turn to go around it, and if there was a low tide (don't know, which is why I'm qualifying it with "if") they may not have swung out wide enough to avoid the grounding. Pure speculation on my part. Perhaps the findings will clarify.
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Post by Kahloke on Aug 22, 2023 5:37:42 GMT -8
It occurred in Wasp Passage. Wasp Passage was my initial thought, too. It's the narrowest channel the inter island ferry transits, so it makes sense that's where it grounded. Bulletin this morning says they're still waiting on getting Chelan towed and getting another vessel in to replace it. My guess is inter-island service will be cancelled for a portion of today, too.
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Post by Kahloke on Aug 21, 2023 15:44:40 GMT -8
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Post by Kahloke on Aug 21, 2023 11:31:35 GMT -8
Chelan ran aground? It's been out of service on a pretty regular basis because of lack of crew, so that's not exactly news, but hitting the shoreline sure is. Does anyone here in Washington have more information?
Update: Latest news from WSF. Now I'm really curious how Chelan made contact with the shore yesterday. Hoping more information will be forthcoming.
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Post by Kahloke on Aug 20, 2023 19:48:37 GMT -8
I thought that Icelandair converted Boeing 767 300ER to freights but I am glad they kept two. I wonder if Iceland will order Boeing 787 9 for replacement of wide body fleet. They have 5 767-300's. I think 3 are for passenger use, and the other 2 are freighters. I don't think Icelandair even knows at this point what their long haul product will be in the future, beyond the Airbus A321XLR's they've just committed to. Those are intended to replace the 757's. They're happy with the 737 MAX 8's and 9's for their short to medium haul ops, but the Airbus A321XLR is the only new airplane in the market that has the range to fly the long routes of the 757, and those 757's are getting old. I do think a 787-8 or 787-9 would be a solid choice for replacing the 767's on some of their busiest routes, as well as a stepping stone for growing the business a bit, but Airbus may make them a good deal on the A330NEO. The wait list for the 787's is pretty long, and they may be able to get an A330 faster. I guess time will tell.
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Post by Kahloke on Aug 20, 2023 15:17:56 GMT -8
Aug 6, 2023: the Icelandair 767-300 that took us from Amsterdam to Keflavik, Iceland, and then again from Keflavik to Seattle (same plane, both flights). Here's a pic of the plane at Amsterdam, and 2 videos showing the landing and subsequent takeoff from Keflavik. I gotta say, I do like the coach seating layout on the 767's: 2+3+2. We were obviously on the "2" side, a window and an aisle. Landing at Keflavik, Iceland Taking off from Keflavik, Iceland
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Post by Kahloke on Aug 19, 2023 9:52:24 GMT -8
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Post by Kahloke on Aug 18, 2023 18:35:31 GMT -8
Here are some of the passenger ferries that ply some of Switzerland's larger lakes. First up are the Lake Lucerne Navigation Company's steamers. They have 5 of those, and we took one as part of the Gotthard Panorama Express package. It starts at the top of Lake Lucerne, and cruises the lake stopping at various ports of call along the way, ending at the bottom of the lake, where we picked up the Gotthard Panorama Express Train. These steamers are pretty cool; a nod to the past, really. They're sidewheelers and don't go very fast, but it's such a beautiful lake, who would want to go fast, anyway? Plenty of food options on board, including a really nice white linen restaurant. this is one of their motor ferries. Mt. Pilatus is off in the distance Next up are the Lake Thun (Thunersee) ferries. We took this one from the city of Thun just a little ways down the lake to Oberhofen to see their castle, about a 20 minute ferry ride. Like Lake Lucerne, you can go around the entire lake, and they make stops in most of the villages and towns along the shore. Thun has steamer ferries, too The ferry that took us back to Thun from Oberhofen
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Post by Kahloke on Aug 17, 2023 19:17:11 GMT -8
This is going to be a bit of a photo dump, but I'm back from three weeks in Europe and finally processed all of my photos. We took trains everywhere we went which was primarily in Germany and Switzerland, so I got pretty accustomed to riding trains, and it was fun getting on the various types. We did everything from the German high-speed ICE long distance trains to steep mountain funiculars in the Swiss Alps. I will say this about the Swiss trains vs. the German Deutsche Bahn trains: Swiss trains were ALWAYS on time. The German trains...not so much. We missed a number of connections when traveling through Germany primarily on their regional trains. The ICE trains were better about staying on time. I had both the Deutsche Bahn App and Swiss Rail App on my phone which came in very handy for figuring out train times and connections. First up is the ICE train we caught at Frankfurt Airport when we first arrived in Europe. This train took us to Wurzburg where we transferred to regional trains that got us to Rothenburg ob der Tauber, our final destination for that day. We had reserved seats on the ICE, which was nice, and the seats themselves are roomy and comfortable, and there is plenty of overhead room for small luggage. If you have big bags, they have luggage racks in each carriage. These trains can get up to some fairly high speeds, though I noticed their top speeds were only for short sections at a time. The fastest we ever got was 297 km/h (+/-184 mph). Next up is the little shuttle train that runs the 13km between Steinach to Rothenburg ob der Tauber. Rothenburg is a spur line, so you have to catch this little shuttle that runs between Rothenburg and Steinach which is along the main rail lines. Commuter trains at Augsburg. This was the day we went from Rothenburg to Fussen, and also the day we kept missing connections because everything was running late. At least our tickets on the regional trains were good for all day, so it's not like I had to buy us new tickets every time we missed a connection because of a late train. A typical Swiss regional train at Appenzell. I liked these trains. They remind me a lot of the light rail we have here. The train ride from Appenzell to St. Gallen is pretty scenic. It goes along the road for much of its route, and when I say along the road, I mean it's almost like another lane on the road. There's almost no separation. But it winds its way over the hills and through pretty towns, so like I said, very scenic. Inside of the Swiss regional train. By and large, most of the trains we rode on were modern and clean We didn't ride on this one, but it's an older train car at Heiden, Switzerland. There is a cogwheel train that goes down the mountain from Heiden to Rorschach on Lake Constance below. We took it and sat in the open air cars at the back of the train. That was quite fun and the scenery is breathtaking, of course. This is the cogwheel train we took from Heiden to Rorschach (train on the left) One of the villages we went by on the way down the mountain. This is a very typical Swiss town Coming down the mountain. You can see Lake Constance in the distance Train station at St. Gallen, Switzerland Inside a Swiss long distance train. This is their equivalent to the German ICE trains A little further along our trip: one of the excursions we did was a trip up Mt. Pilatus just outside Luzern. Mt. Pilatus has the steepest cogwheel funicular train in the world, and they just replaced their 1937 vintage trains last year with new models, so these are pretty much brand new trains we rode up the mountain on. Spectacular is definitely a word I would use to describe the ascent. From Luzern, we took the Gotthard Panorama Express to Lugano, which included a ferry ride across Lake Luzern on an old side wheeler boat (I'll post that in another thread), and the Panorama express train across Gotthard Pass. Another mountain cogwheel train. This is Gornergrat Mountain which is right next to Matterhorn. You take this cogwheel train up from Zermatt, the main town below and where we were staying. Zermatt is kind of like Whistler. It's down in the valley and you take lifts, or in this case, a train, up the mountains. As you can see in these photos, we had some flurries at Gorngergrat when we first arrived. It quickly gave way to sunshine, thankfully. This is Gornergrat Station. Matterhorn is dead centre in the photo, mostly covered in clouds. Those did lift for us a little later, giving us a grand view of the mountain. Gorngergrat train heading up the mountain See, the clouds did lift. There's Matterhorn in her full glory Switching Swiss regions, we spent 3 days in the Berner Oberland, which is essentially the central part of the Swiss Alps. Interlaken is the closest city. From there, you head up to Lauterbrunnen valley where we were staying, but on the cliffs above Lauterbrunnen, there are two cliffside villages, one on each side. Murren is one village, and Wengen is the other. Both are served by trains. In the case of Murren, you take a gondola up to the ridge top first, then catch a train that runs along the top and into Murren, which is a few kilometers away from the gondola station. This little funicular starts in Murren, the village you see here, and runs up the big hill behind it. We took this and hiked the trails back down into Murren. The other very cool train in the Berner Oberland is the JungfrauBahn, the train that takes you up Jungfrau (the mountain) to the highest railway station in Europe, which is actually inside the mountain. From there you take elevators to the surface at Jungfraujoch, the saddle between Jungfrau and Monch. It is a neat experience and one I totally recommend for anyone who goes to Switzerland. The following pictures are not of the train that goes inside the mountain, but the trains you take to the high Alpine station where you switch to the train that takes you up to Jungfraujoch. Kleine Shiedegg, a mid-point station along the JungfrauBahn where you can connect to Lauterbrunnen and Wengen, or go the other way to Grindewald Last photo of trains: this is in Haarlem, just outside Amsterdam. We ended our Europe trip in Amsterdam. This is a typical Dutch commuter train, the one we took from Amsterdam to Haarlem I thoroughly enjoyed traveling by train in Europe. Most of our time was in Switzerland, and so I bought a Swiss travel pass, and that was certainly worth it. It got us onto all of their trains, busses, boats, and half off some of their popular mountain lifts like Jungfraujoch and Gornergrat, as well as free admission to most of their museums. If you're going to spend any time in Switzerland, and don't have a car, this is the way to do it.
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Post by Kahloke on Jul 14, 2023 6:42:42 GMT -8
Did a random on the Fjordøy, an electric ferry today. She runs from Haugesund to the islands for Feoy and Røvaer. The run is approximately 25 minutes to Røvaer. Our cruising speed was 20 knots. As well as carrying passengers, she is also a freight boat. Love it! Norway, Sweden, and Denmark have been on my bucket list for a long time. We originally planned a trip there to be done in 2021, but of course, COVID hit, and then we changed the itinerary to Germany, Switzerland, and the Netherlands, with a little bit of Italy thrown in, because my wife has a friend living in Germany now, but Scandinavia is still VERY high on the list. And, speaking of our upcoming trip, we leave for Frankfurt today, so I'll be in Europe pretty soon, too.
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Post by Kahloke on Jul 13, 2023 18:30:24 GMT -8
Have any of our really nerdy ferry fans actually timed the Cortes route? I'm asking because, with the tightening up of the schedule this summer, BC Ferries has the Quadra Queen II arriving at Whaletown the same time she departs. Which, you have to admit, is quite the trick. Super efficient loading. I suspect that the route doesn't actually take 45 minutes, which is what the schedule says. Maybe 35? Still, it must be a challenge to do that extra round trip in the same time frame, every day. Maybe they borrowed Hermione's time turner necklace?
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Post by Kahloke on Jul 13, 2023 8:31:16 GMT -8
My vote: Queen of TsawwassenBONUS: Pender Queen a photo I took of Queen of Tsawwassen at Earls Cove in 2006 when she was on Route 7
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Post by Kahloke on Jul 10, 2023 5:55:27 GMT -8
Waiting in Frankfurt for our connecting flight. Our arrival was more or less on time, our gate or our connecting flight has had four gate changes. Lots of interesting liveries. Condor has almost as many as Braniff did. Here is but one example. Lufthansa is still flying their 747s as well as their A340 and 380s! Our 747 has certainly seen better days. 😞 I'm not sure what I think of Condor's new livery(ies). The striped beach towel look is certainly interesting, but I think it would look better with stripes on the fuselage and a solid color on the tail with a larger logo filling out the tail, not the tiny logo they have now, and larger Condor titles on the fuselage. That would look more cohesive to my eyes. On another note, Condor is one the airlines I considered flying to Europe this summer, particularly since they are flying their brand-new A330-900 NEO's to Seattle, but I ultimately chose Icelandair so we could fly into Frankfurt and out of Amsterdam on the return. Going with Condor would have meant backtracking to Frankfurt for the flight home. Also, Icelandair was still cheaper even with the multi-city routing. As for Lufthansa, I've got to think their 747-400's are in their last years. Seems like everyone else has ditched them, so it's surprising to me that LH still flies theirs. The 747-8i's are still new, so I imagine they will fly them for quite a number of years. LH, like other airlines, grounded the A380 during the pandemic, but those birds aren't very old, either, so it doesn't surprise me to see them re-activate that sub-fleet, especially with the higher than expected travel numbers this year. Before the pandemic, LH used to fly the 747-400's between Frankfurt and Seattle, but now I think that route is served by the A330's and A340's. The A340's are getting up their in years, too, so it won't surprise me to see those getting retired fairly soon.
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