SailGP comes to Halifax

SailGP comes to Canada and Halifax for the First time this weekend. The series, created by Oracle founder Larry Ellison, is currently in its 4th season. 10 teams, will race F50 one-design multi-hulls around the Harbour Saturday and Sunday. Both days will feature 3 races, with the final race only including the top teams from the previous 5 races.

The Boats are an evolution of the 2017 AC50 boats used for the Americas Cup, and 3 of the hulls were raced in that Americas Cup. as a one design series, all the boats are identical, so winning comes down to ability of the crew of 6 – Helmsman, 2 grinders, tactician, trimmer and flight controller. The F50 name drives from Foiling, and the boats length 50′. if you look closely, you will see the boats skimming through the water on a single foil on the downwind side of the vessel.

The boats typically race at 60-80km/h depending on wind conditions, with the top speed of 99.94km/h being recorded in 2022.

NSPS Update from Vancouver

A recent stopover in Vancouver allowed me the opportunity to pop over to the North Van side of the harbour to take a peak at the Seaspan facility there. Seaspan is currently building 2 supply ships for the navy (one is hull complete, the second has blocks under construction) as well as the Offshore Science vessel for the Coast Guard, which is the replacement for CCGS Hudson.

Much of the work in Vancouver is able to occur outdoors, owing to that cities better weather,so a good idea of the progress on both vessels can be easily had. The yards massive blue crane is also very impressive in person.

The Germans are here

Today brought the arrival of two German naval vessels to pier 20 – the Supply Ship Frankfurt am Main, and the Frigate Baden-Württemberg. Both vessels will depart on the 20th.

Frankfurt am Main has been to Halifax before, is of the same design as the supply ships currently under construction by SeaSpan in Vancouver. Baden-Württemberg is the first in class of land attack frigates, and was commissioned in 2019.

Photos to Follow.

Nord Logos at pier 9 for cable tanks

Nord Logos is currently at pier 9, installing cable handling equipment to transport undersea cable. two tanks are being installed in the hold, which will have cable laid into them for transport.

Nord Logos is one of several of this type of vessel that has called here in the past – the ships remain the same, but the charters change – These vessels have called under Thorco, Franbo, and now Nord Names.

Tricia – away from the North Sea.

An unusual caller to Fairview Cove today – Trica arrived this morning from Vlissingen. the Netherlands flagged RO-RO vessel was built in 2007, and can also carry 670TEU on deck fore and aft.

Im told the ship will be discharging 350 vehicles. Trica was originally supposed to call at Autoport, but Autoport requires a ramp that can swing to the dock, Trica’s ramp only goes straight back.

Transfennica is part of the Spliethoff Group, and normally operates in the Baltic and North Seas, providing a similar type of service to that area as Oceanex does. Trica more closely resembles a ferry in many ways, with an exposed ro-ro deck.

She is Scheduled to sail at 4:30

Fires and tows

The Tug ALP Sweeper arrived in Halifax March 26th to await the Tow of MSC Sao Paulo V. The MSC Sao Paulo V suffered an engine room fire off Quebec, while outbound from the port of Montreal.

The Fire was extinguished, and the ship is now under tow to Halifax by the tugs Océan Taïga with Océan Raynald T on the stern. they are set to arrive at the pilot station Tuesday morning at 0800 for pier 42.

I understand the plan to be for the ship to Discharge all containers, at which point ALP Sweeper will tow MSC Sao Paulo V to her fate, which is likely, given her age, to be recycled.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...