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Post by Low Light Mike on Aug 27, 2009 12:13:18 GMT -8
Here's a thread for discussion about the Fast Cat sale to Abu Dhabi, their possible / actual future use, pictures of the ships etc.
Basically, this here new thread is for everything re the Fast Cat's new life, other than minute-by-minute & less-frequent charting and webcam shots.
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Post by Ferryman on Aug 27, 2009 19:36:00 GMT -8
Did some google searching. Found some photos that someone took of the Pacificat Voyager recently. They got to wander all over the ship. Rumours of a destroyed interior is obviously false now, because everything looks immaculate in these pics. Maybe a thin layer of dust over an untouched interior is all there is. The Engines even look like they're in fine shape from the outside at least. www.flickr.com/photos/erjung/sets/72157603797860000/I'm having flashback memories from my last and only trip aboard a fastcat, the Pacificat Discovery. Far worse than Routes 1 or 2 on a long weekend on a regular vessel. Everything was priced at a premium. The Cats ran on an adjusted schedule, while the C's remained on their usual schedule. If you just so happened to catch a Fastcat sailing, you'd end up paying a premium fare for that sailing, otherwise you'd wait until a C-Class to arrive and pay regular fare. The general concept of the Fastcats was really cool to me, and being able to experience the reverse out of Horseshoe Bay, the powerup almost up on to plane in the Strait, and the 180 degree turn at Departure Bay was a thrill. An experience I'll never forget. |
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Quatchi
Voyager 
Engineering Officer - CCG
Posts: 930
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Post by Quatchi on Aug 27, 2009 21:41:51 GMT -8
It almost looks as if you could send a 10 man cleaning crew on her for one 8 hour shift and send her into service the next day. Would be interesting if all three were like this.
If they are in this great of shape and all the mechanical systems still work, they could have these ships running quite soon. Considering they will be run in the UAE, which made its fortune in oil, high fuel consumption shouldn't be a problem. So, the new owners could have possibly just bought 400 million dollar ferries for an 8th of the construction cost. Spend a little cash to clean them up and test everything out and you've got some fairly nice ships way quicker than building your own.
Maybe the fastcats are some sort of test to see if a run of any type is possible, then if it turns out there is demand they can build their own ships, or upgrade the fastcats.
Cheers,
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Post by Low Light Mike on Oct 23, 2009 14:03:35 GMT -8
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Post by lmtengs on Oct 23, 2009 14:14:58 GMT -8
Wow! According to those flickr pictures, the fastcats looked more like a cruise ship than a ferry on the inside  |
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Kam
Voyager
Posts: 926
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Post by Kam on Oct 23, 2009 15:06:28 GMT -8
same thing I said on his blog:
I doubt very much that the ships will be scrapped. If that where the case I don’t think the new owners would have spent the money for the heavy lift ships to haul them out of the water for a safe journey. They would have simply used an ocean going tug for a fraction of the price. The bow door would have been welded closed and then hauled away like any other scrap ship.
They method they chose to move the ships indicates the owners have plans for them intact.
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Post by hullnumbers on Oct 23, 2009 22:57:12 GMT -8
I agree I dont think they would scrap them either. If anyone remembers, the Sunshine Coast Queen went through being scaped as kam said, but sank.
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Neil
Voyager
Posts: 7,192
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Post by Neil on Oct 23, 2009 23:39:27 GMT -8
I'm having flashback memories from my last and only trip aboard a fastcat, the Pacificat Discovery. Far worse than Routes 1 or 2 on a long weekend on a regular vessel. Everything was priced at a premium. The Cats ran on an adjusted schedule, while the C's remained on their usual schedule. If you just so happened to catch a Fastcat sailing, you'd end up paying a premium fare for that sailing, otherwise you'd wait until a C-Class to arrive and pay regular fare. I didn't remember paying a premium for riding the 'cats, so I checked the schedule and fares tables for 1999 and 2000, and it confirms that there was no difference in fares. |
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Post by Retrovision on Oct 25, 2009 0:50:02 GMT -8
Thank you for introducing this thread, Mr. Horn.
I'm eager to contribute here.
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Post by Ferryman on Oct 25, 2009 9:22:56 GMT -8
I'm having flashback memories from my last and only trip aboard a fastcat, the Pacificat Discovery. Far worse than Routes 1 or 2 on a long weekend on a regular vessel. Everything was priced at a premium. The Cats ran on an adjusted schedule, while the C's remained on their usual schedule. If you just so happened to catch a Fastcat sailing, you'd end up paying a premium fare for that sailing, otherwise you'd wait until a C-Class to arrive and pay regular fare. I didn't remember paying a premium for riding the 'cats, so I checked the schedule and fares tables for 1999 and 2000, and it confirms that there was no difference in fares. Actually Neil, I think you might be right. I've been checking the same things, and even checking the archived BC Ferries website in 1998-2000. The only real surcharge I can find is for overheights, which states: A surcharge will be applied to vehicles over 7' high at Horseshoe Bay terminal when travelling to Nanaimo on weekend/holiday periods in peak season. An overheight passenger vehicle will be $65.00 for the first 20 feet and $3.25 per foot thereafter. Units over 5500 kg GVW are $4.90 per foot. Save by catching a ferry from Tsawwassen to Duke Point during Peak Season over weekends and holidays.
My fault for following the word of mouth from my parents, who had always assumed it was more expensive to take Route 2 over Route 30 at the time. We'd also go to great lengths to avoid Route 2 for that reason and for how uncomfortable the Fastcats were at the time. |
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Post by ferryfanyvr on Oct 25, 2009 9:54:31 GMT -8
I travelled on the fast cats frequently during their short service life (and hated every minute of it ;D) and there was definitely NO extra cost to take those sailings as compared to the C-class sailngs other than the usual surcharges for overheights.
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D'Elete BC in NJ
Voyager
Dispensing gallons of useless information daily...
Posts: 1,671
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Post by D'Elete BC in NJ on Oct 30, 2009 11:06:04 GMT -8
hmmmm...Paul's post about the final Fast Cat's departure in the torch relay thread left me wondering about the aforementioned departure just happening to occur just before the Olympic crowds start to arrive. It leaves me to wonder if there was a little backroom effort to have them out of the harbour prior to the games. Maybe trying to erase the last political boondoggle from the populace's collective mind before the next one steps up to the plate. ;D Just an idle thought...  |
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Quatchi
Voyager
Engineering Officer - CCG
Posts: 930
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Post by Quatchi on Oct 30, 2009 11:49:07 GMT -8
If anything you'd think the liberals would want them around, just to rub it in the NDP's face in front of the world. I can see Gordon Campbell in front of a newsroom talking about how his government is awesome with the Olympics and such and he just lets the Fastcats slip in there.
But they are and were privately owned and stored at a private facility, so the government had no way of getting them out without doing something bold.
Cheers,
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Post by timmyboy on Oct 30, 2009 14:42:35 GMT -8
hmmmm...Paul's post about the final Fast Cat's departure in the torch relay thread left me wondering about the aforementioned departure just happening to occur just before the Olympic crowds start to arrive. It leaves me to wonder if there was a little backroom effort to have them out of the harbour prior to the games. Maybe trying to erase the last political boondoggle from the populace's collective mind before the next one steps up to the plate. ;D Just an idle thought... The two aren't connected. Amazing how some creativity goes way out of wack. I see that sort of thing all the time in political travels and turns out to be wrong. Entertainment, but hardly factual. Trust me there wasn't any "backroom" effort, since it couldn't be done anyway as the Pacificats are privately owned and have since been passed from one private owner to another. and yes I will be following the third and final Pacificat out to sea. You'll be able to see additional pictures of the first departure shortly with biblographed pictures from here... there... and everywhere.. Ah BCinNJ will just do anything to stir the pot. ;D |
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D'Elete BC in NJ
Voyager
Dispensing gallons of useless information daily...
Posts: 1,671
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Post by D'Elete BC in NJ on Oct 31, 2009 13:39:23 GMT -8
Hey, I just pointed out an obvious "coincidence"...but to believe there aren't back-room discussions between private companies and the government is to fail to understand how our political system truly works. While having the ships sit in harbour might be a good political move locally, having three dirty, derelict looking ships on your waterfront is another story. And, by back-room discussion I mean something as simple as a phone call along the lines of "It would be really helpful to us if you could convince your buyers to have those things out of the harbour before the end of the year." There is nothing dramatic nor bold, nor uncommon about it...
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D'Elete BC in NJ
Voyager
Dispensing gallons of useless information daily...
Posts: 1,671
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Post by D'Elete BC in NJ on Oct 31, 2009 14:09:04 GMT -8
You seem to think that some sort of threat needed to be made, but so much better to make a subtle call to ask a favour...it's probably been done more times in the last five minutes than it's worth arguing about...I've done it myself when I've needed something pushed along. No one gets angry because it is understood it's not a threat or a demand, merely a request for one person helping another...
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Post by inputrain on Mar 11, 2023 16:03:00 GMT -8
Does anyone have the pictures of pacificat voyager's interior from when she was in north vancouver?
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Post by inputrain on Mar 12, 2023 21:56:03 GMT -8
 Newest pic of the cats |
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