Displaying items by tag: Starts May

17th April 2024

Dublin Swift’s Countdown to Dublin-Holyhead High-Speed Craft (HSC) Seasonal Operated Service

Irish Ferries high-speed craft (HSC) Dublin Swift has been tracked by Afloat to Cardiff Docks, south Wales, where the vessel has been wintering, but in a month’s time is to resume seasonal service, writes Jehan Ashmore.

According to the Irish Ferries website, Dublin Swift is to start on 17 May with a Dublin-Holyhead sailing, and this will be in advance of the busier summer months on the Ireland-Wales route, complementing the year-round cruise-ferry-operated route.

Passage times by Dublin Swift are just over 2 hours (135 minutes) on the route on which the HSC represents the only fast ferry operating on the Irish Sea, connecting 'directly' between Ireland and the UK; the only other such craft is the Isle of Man Steam Packet’s Manannan; see yesterday's story.

Dublin Swift takes 900 passengers and drive-through vehicle decks for 200 cars and 16 trailers and provides two sailings daily from each port. On board, there is a club-class lounge, restaurant, cafe, shop, TV lounge, and passengers can avail of free Wi-fi.

The 101-metre Austal Auto-Express craft was built in 2001 by Austal Ship Pty, Fremantle, Western Australia, as the Westpac Express and was chartered through third-party companies to the US Marine Corps as a support vessel until it returned to Austal in 2015.

In the following year, Irish Continental Group (ICG), the parent company of Irish Ferries, acquired the HSC from Austal; however, the craft was chartered to the Sealift Inc. of the USA for use again by US Marine Corps until the charter ended in 2017. This led to the craft laid up in Belfast.

It was not until 2018 when the HSC was renamed Dublin Swift, which made its debut in April of that year for Irish Ferries.

The Cypriot flagged 101.4 metre-long craft and with a beam of 26.65 metres replaced another HSC, the Jonathan Swift, which was sold to interests in the Mediterranean.

Published in Irish Ferries

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About Conor O'Brien, Irish Circumnavigator

In 1923-25, Conor O'Brien became the first amateur skipper to circle the world south of the Great Capes. O'Brien's boat Saoirse was reputedly the first small boat (42-foot, 13 metres long) to sail around the world since Joshua Slocum completed his voyage in the 'Spray' during 1895 to 1898. It is a journey that O' Brien documented in his book Across Three Oceans. O'Brien's voyage began and ended at the Port of Foynes, County Limerick, Ireland, where he lived.

Saoirse, under O'Brien's command and with three crew, was the first yacht to circumnavigate the world by way of the three great capes: Cape Horn, Cape of Good Hope and Cape Leeuwin; and was the first boat flying the Irish tri-colour to enter many of the world's ports and harbours. He ran down his easting in the Roaring Forties and Furious Fifties between the years 1923 to 1925.

Up until O'Brien's circumnavigation, this route was the preserve of square-rigged grain ships taking part in the grain race from Australia to England via Cape Horn (also known as the clipper route).

At a Glance - Conor O'Brien's Circumnavigation

In June 1923, Limerick man Conor O’Brien set off on his yacht, the Saoirse — named after the then newly created Irish Free State — on the two-year voyage from Dun Laoghaire Harbour that was to make him the first Irish amateur to sail around the world.

June 1923 - Saoirse’s arrival in Madeira after her maiden passage out from Dublin Bay

2nd December 1924 - Saoirse crossed the longitude of Cape Horn

June 20th 1925 - O’Brien’s return to Dun Laoghaire Harbour