Posted on June 24, 2020
Three ships built by an Australian shipbuilder have together clocked up a 30-year stake on a trophy for the fastest commercial passenger ship to cross the Atlantic Ocean.
Built by Incat Tasmania, the 74m long Hoverspeed Great Britain (Incat hull number 025) was the first Incat-built vessel to claim the Hales Trophy in June 1990 with its crossing from New York to England’s Bishop Rock in 3 days, 7 hours and 54 minutes. This year marks 30 years since the event.
Two Incat built ships have since shaved time off the 1990 Transatlantic record. They are the 91m long Catalonia (Incat 047) in June 1998 and the 91m long Incat Catlink V (Incat hull 049) in July 1998. The 2 day 20 hours and 9 minute record set by the Danish Catlink V is still held today.
The Hales Trophy is awarded for crossing the Atlantic Ocean at the “highest average speed”. This means high speed needs to be maintained over the entire crossing and the voyage must be undertaken without re-fuelling.
The record-breaking Incat ships were fast due to lightweight aluminium construction utilising revolutionary wavepiercing technology with the advantages of low-buoyancy, long and slender hulls in catamaran form.
While a long narrow hull will slice through waves rather than ride over them, in large sea conditions they tend to deck dive.
The Incat wavepiercer lessens this by including a centre bow, normally clear of the water, which increases buoyancy during these events thus preventing serious nose-diving at high speed or in high seas.
By Rebecca Jeffrey
Source: maritimejournal
