The North Boat (Northlink ferries)

[Kavi Ugl]

Maybe that's what it boils down to i.e not wanting to take the risk of being sued by someone who stumbles and cracks their head off a hand rail.

 

If so, that's a very sad state of affairs but I guess I even see it increasingly in my own place of work.

 

Progress in the year 2010?. Yes, we're progressing backwards....

 

Talking of heading into or running with the sea say you got a "freak monster wave" and it hit the Hrossey/Hjaltland from the back quarter and started to roll her foreover could it capsize it I wonder?.

 

Ken what I mean?.

 

[Gorgonzola Butt-cheese]

What you are describing is known as " Broaching", running before the sea,

a following sea overtaking the boat can push her stern around so that she ends up beam on to wind and waves.

This can happen easily because with the vessel making forward motion, the pivot point is quite far forward.

It is regarded as more hazardous than riding " head to wind" at steerage speed only, which is known as "dodging".

This can happen to any vessel of any size, and survivability will depend on various factors, her initial GM, angle of deck edge immersion, her watertight integrity and her ability to return to either head to wind or to run before it again, and that would depend on whether or not she had lost power and also the skill of her crew in dealing with the situation.

And one other very useful thing, a dash of good luck!!

[david]

As many on this thread have said before, and in fact various posts on this thread are a fine example...

 

Northlink are damned if they do and damned if they dont.

 

Personally, I trust Northlink to make the call. If they aren't sailing then I personally believe there is very good reason. I understand the master of the ship makes the call, no one else.

[Seaflech]

Funny then how many a time even the old Ninian went in a following/quarter sea and still made Aberdeen the next morning - and she was a damn sight smaller than the "kleenex boxes" we have now.

 

Last nights no sail from Lerwick clearly shows that NorthLink have little or no confidence in these vessels sea keeping abilities.

 

I would expect any ship to roll with a beam sea, however these ferries are not (and i don't care what anyone says) suitable for this route, pack them off to the Med where they should be!

 

Just to avoid the tedium of people shouting at Northlink on this thread EVERY time the boat is delayed/cancelled due to weather....... Could you or one of the numerous people who continuously state with such authority that these boats aren't suitable, please inform us all, as you are obviously vastly qualified in naval architecture, hydrodynamics and the physics of vessel stability (and preferrably with the aid of a picture or set of plans) exactly what the ideal Nort boat would look like?

This fantastic craft would be something like this.....

As there are frequently winds of force 8 and above which currently cause disruption, the vessel would need to be massive to make sure it is never affected by any wind, and therefore never deviates from its schedule.

To reduce the effect of windage, it couldn't have any square surfaces at all, so it would need to be dome shaped to allow the wind to just flow over it. It must have a thousand cabins which can be changed at a moments notice to individual ones to meet the day to day demand, and they must also be free of charge as it is a lifeline service. Oh and because of the aerodynamic shape of the boat it would have to be even bigger to allow the outside cabins to have vertical walls.

The whole passenger accommodation portion needs to be on gyro stabilised gimbals so that it never, ever gets affected by any motion at all, but since the whole thing is so big this shouldn't be an issue.

It must travel at great speed, so that any journey takes less time than at present, and also allows sailings to Leith, London, and Rio de Janeiro if somebody needs to go there. But it must achieve this impressive speed without using any more fuel, as that would put the operating costs up.

Finally, there needs to be a button in the wheelhouse to temporarily shrink this floating behemoth to the size of a sixareen to allow it to get into Aberdeen harbour when the tide is so far out that the beach boulevard is questioned under the trade description act.

Oh wait, this all sounds rather unrealistic.....

 

Guys and gals, can we not just accept that a little part of island life is sometimes not being able to get on or off it because of mother nature, and not some Government conspiracy to make life really difficult for us?

[Shoogler]

^^^^

Boy dats brightened up me Seterday morning!

[unlinkedstudent]

^^ You forgot the swimming pool and onboard ice rink - I take it you reckon Northlink should pinch one of Royal Caribbean's fleet then?

[seabreeze]

Having been on vessels in both fleets I don't think Royal Caribbean would be too impressed with 4000 + sheep aboard as the Hildasay had the other night!!

[paulb]

we have been waiting two weeks for the weather to be ok to ship our horse up here. i have no complaints about them denying boarding to animals. i would hate to be at sea in rough seas. they are the experts in safty so maybe we should just except that they know what they are doing.

[shetlandcars]

maybe we should just except that they know what they are doing.

 

Are you a comedian?

[sandra]

I haven't read through all the posts but just wanted to say my husband and I took the Northlink Ferry from Aberdeen to Lerwick last week and it was a positive experience.

 

We booked a berth well ahead of time and it was nicer than expected. Also ate at the one real restaurant onboard and that was lovely too. I saw a couple comments on passengers drinking & behaving badly, sadly that seems to be a big problem all over Britain, I wouldn't expect anything less on board. Luckily our berth must have been in a quiet area of the ferry as we weren't bothered by anything all night.

[manxman]

Clearly, the decision whether to cancel a sailing depends on two things: safety and not frightening the passengers. It's exactly the same here: a Steam Packet crewman told me that our largest vessel, the Ben-my-Chree, could safely sail in anything up to a Force 11, but they won't send it out in anything above a Force Nine as some passengers would be terrified and would start to worry that the ship could sink. Ironically, the only genuinely frightening sailing I've had wasn't a crossing at all, but a "pleasure cruise" (arf!) around the island on our smaller fastcraft. The weather and sea state, not good to begin with, turned significantly worse when expected to improve, and when the ship rounded the Calf of Man it was hit by a freak wave that rolled it to such an extent I seriously thought it would capsize.

[Far Haaf]

The bitching about Northlink on this thread caught my attention, so I have read the thread from start to finish.

Some sensible posts from people who understand ships, sea, and weather. But mostly ridiculous posts from folk who expect the boats to sail in all conditions, but who would be the first to sue Northlink if they chipped a fingernail whilst lifting their teacup from the breakfast table.

 

After 60 odd pages of mostly irrelevant posts, Saeflech's post today actually made sense of the whole farce. Absolutely brilliant post, and hopefully his comment will shut up all the maritime experts here who have never even set foot in a dinghy.

[Ghostrider]

As there are frequently winds of force 8 and above which currently cause disruption, the vessel would need to be massive to make sure it is never affected by any wind, and therefore never deviates from its schedule.

To reduce the effect of windage, it couldn't have any square surfaces at all, so it would need to be dome shaped to allow the wind to just flow over it. <--snippage-->

 

I was doing most splendid thinking "submarine"....until I got to this bit.

 

Finally, there needs to be a button in the wheelhouse to temporarily shrink this floating behemoth to the size of a sixareen to allow it to get into Aberdeen harbour when the tide is so far out that the beach boulevard is questioned under the trade description act.

 

Rats!....The one flaw in an otherwise excellent and perfect plan.

 

I doot hit'll hae ta be a brig ta plaes aa.

[Para Handy]

 

Just to avoid the tedium of people shouting at Northlink on this thread EVERY time the boat is delayed/cancelled due to weather....... Could you or one of the numerous people who continuously state with such authority that these boats aren't suitable, please inform us all, as you are obviously vastly qualified in naval architecture, hydrodynamics and the physics of vessel stability (and preferrably with the aid of a picture or set of plans) exactly what the ideal Nort boat would look like?

This fantastic craft would be something like this.....

As there are frequently winds of force 8 and above which currently cause disruption, the vessel would need to be massive to make sure it is never affected by any wind, and therefore never deviates from its schedule.

To reduce the effect of windage, it couldn't have any square surfaces at all, so it would need to be dome shaped to allow the wind to just flow over it. It must have a thousand cabins which can be changed at a moments notice to individual ones to meet the day to day demand, and they must also be free of charge as it is a lifeline service. Oh and because of the aerodynamic shape of the boat it would have to be even bigger to allow the outside cabins to have vertical walls.

The whole passenger accommodation portion needs to be on gyro stabilised gimbals so that it never, ever gets affected by any motion at all, but since the whole thing is so big this shouldn't be an issue.

It must travel at great speed, so that any journey takes less time than at present, and also allows sailings to Leith, London, and Rio de Janeiro if somebody needs to go there. But it must achieve this impressive speed without using any more fuel, as that would put the operating costs up.

Finally, there needs to be a button in the wheelhouse to temporarily shrink this floating behemoth to the size of a sixareen to allow it to get into Aberdeen harbour when the tide is so far out that the beach boulevard is questioned under the trade description act.

Oh wait, this all sounds rather unrealistic.....

 

Guys and gals, can we not just accept that a little part of island life is sometimes not being able to get on or off it because of mother nature, and not some Government conspiracy to make life really difficult for us?

 

 

Here here Seaflech

[Vdub]

As there are frequently winds of force 8 and above which currently cause disruption, the vessel would need to be massive to make sure it is never affected by any wind, and therefore never deviates from its schedule.

To reduce the effect of windage, it couldn't have any square surfaces at all, so it would need to be dome shaped to allow the wind to just flow over it. <--snippage-->

 

I was doing most splendid thinking "submarine"....until I got to this bit.

 

Finally, there needs to be a button in the wheelhouse to temporarily shrink this floating behemoth to the size of a sixareen to allow it to get into Aberdeen harbour when the tide is so far out that the beach boulevard is questioned under the trade description act.

 

Rats!....The one flaw in an otherwise excellent and perfect plan.

 

I doot hit'll hae ta be a brig ta plaes aa.

 

 

wid it no be posable tae pit wheels on da boddam fur da sand bank and you could run a cable fae viking energy tae cut doon on runnin costs