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[Phil]

Sea Cat is awful! Imagine the pitching and rolling of a single hulled ship, doubled up as one hull tries to pitch while the other rolls! Also very little deck to get on into the open air away from the smell of puke.

Having done alot of offshore yachting I've seen all sorts of people struggle to hold their lunch in varying conditions (the party in the port the night before is sometimes the overriding factor!!) and the thing that makes me rough is the smell of it.

[aaronjb]

Sea Cat is awful! Imagine the pitching and rolling of a single hulled ship, doubled up as one hull tries to pitch while the other rolls! Also very little deck to get on into the open air away from the smell of puke.

My memory is of the small rear deck having a mountain of puke in the corner.. I didn't even know puke could mound up like that. Hurk.

[Kevin Wood]

I think you feel the swell a bit more on the fast cat, but it's over quicker, and I'm not sure they operate in the heaviest seas. They may even be summer months only. IIRC the one that does Portsmouth to Cherbourg gets relocated to New Zealand in the winter.

I bet that's a fun journey on a Cat!

Yep, nice little jolly for the crew, I should think. I wonder how many fuel stops it needs?

Might be for maintenance... As they're built over there.

Not sure re fuel, one of the first Hoverspeed (remember them) did the Blue Ribband run as part of its delivery trip...
https://www.niferry.co.uk/hsc-hoverspeed-great-britain-incat-025/

Could be that too. I was talking to one of the crew outside the bridge on one crossing that was a bit rough. He intimated that the ship could cope with any sea condition mother nature could throw at it, and only needed to throttle back for the very worst conditions, but that winter crossings were problematic due to limitations of the "self-loading freight".

[TheBoy]

Seacats, or at least the ones from 10-15yrs ago do seem to have an ability to make people chuck over the side...    ...which invariably blows back.

As aaronjb says, the smell (and sight of someone elses breakfast) all over you can turn a hardened sea farer into a chunder factory.

[YZ250]

Those seacat things don't do rough particularly well. One of the first crossings from Weymouth or Poole to Guernsey was during a late summer storm..........

We've done the SeaCat from Poole to Jersey a few times and when it's rough you can stand on top deck, lean forwards or backwards in to the wind at over 45 degrees and not fall over. 
If you've got a hood up, don't turn in to the wind as it nearly breaks your neck. 

[Lazydocker]

On all the crossing I've done dover-calais,drive onto truck deck, handbrake on,lock it and leave.  The only thing chained down were the
-un- accompanied trailers, everything else wasn't, reason being takes to long to put 4 chains on to every truck... Would think the Irish crossing is the same.

If the crossing is forecast to be rough the crew will often be chaining whilst you’re upstairs enjoying your breakfast 

[Doctor Gollum]

Four chains to every truck costs less in man hours and chains than having to unload with a telehandler and a JCB

[Boatboy]

Ive taken a truck Holyhead - Dublin or  Cairnryan - Larne probably a hundred times. Winter storms can certainly liven up what is otherwise a dull interlude although standing on the dock watching a ferry struggling to dock can be worrying.

The irish cat (Jonathon Swift IIRC) has earnt he nickname the Olympic Flame, as in the winter it does not go out very often. I believe the the Stena cat is now an office block in Turkey as its Omega-esque thirst made it unviable.

As I understand it the amount of chaining down has various stages dependant on what the weather forecast is, with the most common variant being 'block' chaining where only the trucks on the perimeter of a block get lashed and those in the middle are free to rattle around if Neptune kicks off. What I've never fully understood is this. It's all very well lashing down before departure, but after an hour of rocking from side to side the suspension will lose a lot of air and might of dropped three inches. Do they go round tightening the chains or let them go slack?

Turners nearly lost a tanker out the back of a ferry on the Cairnryan crossing a few years back. Seems the muppet didnt put the brake on and it was 'lashed' to a continuous rail alongside. As they cleared port the captain opened the taps and back she rolled. Took out the loading door and the only thing keeping it out of the sea was the cab wedging against the roof.

Steve
 

[Nick W]

As I understand it the amount of chaining down has various stages dependant on what the weather forecast is, with the most common variant being 'block' chaining where only the trucks on the perimeter of a block get lashed and those in the middle are free to rattle around if Neptune kicks off. What I've never fully understood is this. It's all very well lashing down before departure, but after an hour of rocking from side to side the suspension will lose a lot of air and might of dropped three inches. Do they go round tightening the chains or let them go slack?

If it's done in the same way as lashing to a vehicle, the wheels are secured not the body.

[Doctor Gollum]

Trucks are chained down from the D rings/fixed eyes around the chassis 

Cross chaining limits the amount of movement possible. And yes, checking the load restraints during the passage is the responsibility of the load master and ultimately the Ships Master ie the Captain...

[BazaJT]

Although I have a great fascination for[mainly war]ships from all ages going by water is the one form of transport I can't abide.I even felt queasy once on a pleasure boat ride on the river Ouse in York

[biggriffin]

On all the crossing I've done dover-calais,drive onto truck deck, handbrake on,lock it and leave.  The only thing chained down were the
-un- accompanied trailers, everything else wasn't, reason being takes to long to put 4 chains on to every truck... Would think the Irish crossing is the same.

If the crossing is forecast to be rough the crew will often be chaining whilst you’re upstairs enjoying your breakfast 

.


No they don't... because to chain a truck down correctly, the air needs to be dumped from the suspension, that's from unit and trailer  Also with 200 plus trucks on the spirt, when you board you would see them with chains and binders at the ready.

[Lazydocker]

On all the crossing I've done dover-calais,drive onto truck deck, handbrake on,lock it and leave.  The only thing chained down were the
-un- accompanied trailers, everything else wasn't, reason being takes to long to put 4 chains on to every truck... Would think the Irish crossing is the same.

If the crossing is forecast to be rough the crew will often be chaining whilst you’re upstairs enjoying your breakfast 

.


No they don't... because to chain a truck down correctly, the air needs to be dumped from the suspension, that's from unit and trailer  Also with 200 plus trucks on the spirt, when you board you would see them with chains and binders at the ready.

Dover-Calais is rarely bad enough to justify chains 😉

And I’ve seen them chaining Dover-Dunkirk before everyone is even boarded so they definitely do when needed

[Rods2]

I think you feel the swell a bit more on the fast cat, but it's over quicker, and I'm not sure they operate in the heaviest seas. They may even be summer months only. IIRC the one that does Portsmouth to Cherbourg gets relocated to New Zealand in the winter.

I bet that's a fun journey on a Cat!

Been on that a few times on that route but always in calm summer weather. Have used the slow boat (including the original small P&O ones) in all weathers with force 11 being the strongest where the ferry we were mean't to catch grounding in the Portsmouth harbour channel due to the bad weather, so ended up on the longer trip & drive from Le Havre. The ship also took an extra 2 hours to complete the journey due to the weather conditions. Fortunately, I and my family don't suffer from sea sickness. My standing joke after a rough night crossing was that at least I won't have to queue for my onboard full English breakfast, where there were never many looking for that.

[Boatboy]

On all the crossing I've done dover-calais,drive onto truck deck, handbrake on,lock it and leave.  The only thing chained down were the
-un- accompanied trailers, everything else wasn't, reason being takes to long to put 4 chains on to every truck... Would think the Irish crossing is the same.

If the crossing is forecast to be rough the crew will often be chaining whilst you’re upstairs enjoying your breakfast 

.


No they don't... because to chain a truck down correctly, the air needs to be dumped from the suspension, that's from unit and trailer  Also with 200 plus trucks on the spirt, when you board you would see them with chains and binders at the ready.

Whilst I expected this to be the case when I first started doing the trips, the thing is I've never seen it done on any of my crossings, whether first on, last on or anywhere inbetween. Nor have I returned to the vehicle deck and found unit or trailer down to the stops. Is there a way to dump the air out of a locked unit?