The Ship Enthusiast thread

[Joey Shabadoo]

What did you do?

Didn't get caught

 

[slowmotion]

You actually manage to make Avonmouth sound interesting.

The Bay of Fundy isn't exactly a hipster paradise either.

 

[Reynard]

I've sailed on just about all of the various vessels on the Dover-Oostende and Dover-Zeebrugge routes from the mid-70s until the late 90's (when the Oostende route was canned) and then did Dover-Calais for a while before switching to the Chunnel.

Have done everything from passenger packet to ro-ro, freighter, jetfoil, hovercraft and seacat.

My uncle was a purser on the ferries plying the Dover-Oostende route.

 

[andabby]

I like this thread, working in a dock, I can have this website open with the boat pictures and my boss thinks im working.

 

[snorri]

I've sailed on just about all of the various vessels on the Dover-Oostende and Dover-Zeebrugge routes from the mid-70s until the late 90's (when the Oostende route was canned) and then did Dover-Calais for a while before switching to the Chunnel..

Reminds me of a cycle tour when I rolled up at the tourist info office in Oostende looking for a B&B. The assistant asked for details, and I said I was seeking a place near the ferry terminal for a morning departure. There would be no morning departure I was told, not next morning or any other morning, the ferry service had ceased. The joys of planning a cycle tour on a hour by hour basis.

 

[Hover Fly]

Can I jump in on this thread ?


And my last was this one..

View attachment 339309

SOUTHAMPTON (it wasn't yet her majesty's when I worked on it)

You might have used/bashed your head on some of my handiwork from when I was an apprentice.

 

[Joey Shabadoo]

Hatch Rash

 

[Biff600]

Hatch Rash

Plenty of that !!

 

[Reynard]

[QUOTE 4696092, member: 259"]I used to like the hovercraft (although it was bloody noisy) and I was on the last but one "flight" to Calais.[/QUOTE]

The hovercraft was always really good fun. The silliness of it always appealed to me, as did the engineering behind it. But you really didn't want to stand up or have a drink / snack...

 

[Reynard]

Reminds me of a cycle tour when I rolled up at the tourist info office in Oostende looking for a B&B. The assistant asked for details, and I said I was seeking a place near the ferry terminal for a morning departure. There would be no morning departure I was told, not next morning or any other morning, the ferry service had ceased. The joys of planning a cycle tour on a hour by hour basis.

They did revive the service a couple of times since then, but it's never lasted particularly long. It was a four hour ferry crossing from Dover / Ramsgate (nearly 5 hours to Zeebrugge) and now you can do that in a couple of hours with Le Shuttle and the motorway. And you don't have to worry about the weather. Have had some pretty nasty crossings over the years, including a 12 hour rollercoaster-fest on the Pride of Bruges sailing from Zeebrugge to Dover.

All of the ships that used to do Dover-Oostende have now been scrapped, except for the Prins Filip. She's still working Dover-Calais from what I gather.

Think the same is true for all of the ones I remember on the Dover-Zeebrugge route.

 

[martint235]

I've still got fond memories of going to Germany via Dover/Oostende. I was new to this foreign travel lark and so when the travel agent messed up and told me my midnight sailing docked in Oostende at 7am I thought nothing of it and arranged to be collected by my German friend at that time. Docking at 3.30 came as a bit of a shock to the system but thankfully Belgium is a civilised country and there was a bar open.

 

[slowmotion]

Please try the overnight Stena ferry from Harwich to The Hook. It's a great ship and very bike-friendly. The Dutch crew are delightful. I've been half a dozen times and always marvel at the endless procession of super-tankers from all over the world as they head for the Rotterdam oil terminal at dawn.

 

[Reynard]

I blame you lot

Spent a large chunk of yesterday evening watching youtube clips of the ferries that I used to sail on... And have discovered a really cool ferry blog online as well.

 

[classic33]

I blame you lot

Spent a large chunk of yesterday evening watching youtube clips of the ferries that I used to sail on... And have discovered a really cool ferry blog online as well.

Only one!

 

[Reynard]

Heh, well, it's this one: http://www.hhvferry.com/main.html

And this particular page brought back a few memories - sailed on her in both TT & P&P guises as Spirit of Free Enterprise / Pride of Kent (the latter after stretching), and her sister Pride of Free Enterprise / Pride of Bruges: http://www.hhvferry.com/sofesofeints.html