* May 1999: Fast Cat Ferries begins the TopCat service, which folded in November 2000. * February 1998: The Mana Seacat Te Hukatai catamaran starts a Paremata to Picton service but folds five months later. * December 1995: The North by South Straitrunner starts a Paremata to Picton service but the company goes into receivership in May 1996. * December 1994: Christchurch businessman Brooke McKenzie starts the Sea Shuttle fast ferry. It was early November when TopCat left Wellington for Hobart for the last time amid speculation that it could be used by the United States Navy.įive years later, the Lynx fast ferry alsoceased service, marking the end of high-speed Cook Strait crossings. Lyebrook House, 55 Redditch Rd, Alvechurch (3,588.91 mi) Birmingham, UK, B487RU.
"We like to call it the aluminium magnet, we always attract a lot of small craft who want to come out and have a closer look at us, which can sometimes be a little bit dangerous because we are going at quite a high speed and they can slow down a lot faster than we can." "The weather on the strait can be a bit unpredictable and there have been a few days when I've thought it wouldn't be a bad idea to be somewhere else because my stomach has been up in the air."Īlthough Captain Wood said TopCat wasn't the prettiest boat he has ever seen – "it's more practical than pretty" – he was not surprised by people's interest in it.
"We are only legally able to sail if the waves are no more than four metres high. Weather conditions were also a challenge. "We do occasionally see a few whales out there and big logs and because this is a light vessel, it would cause a lot of damage if we hit one, but we wouldn't sink because, as we are a catamaran, we have two hulls." With the ferry's ability to reach 93kmh, he and his colleagues on the bridge had to keep a constant lookout for anything that might be in its path. The Cattery, designed and supplied by Pedigree Pens, is set in and overlooking picturesque gardens. Owner Diana Dickson has been invited to talk about her cattery and offer advice in cat care on Radio Bristol. Featured on national television as the best cattery in Great Britain. "One of the things that did surprise me about was the tiny size of the wheel, I don't think I have ever seen one that small before," he said of the eight-centimetre-wide wheel. Top Cat Country House Hotel is a licensed and award-winning cattery situated close to Bath. He had worked on Interislander's old ferries as well as TopCat's high-speed rival, the Lynx. "It is definitely one of the more scenic routes that I have worked on and on a good day there's not much like it." Working a roster of three days on, three days off, he crossed Cook Strait four times daily. "I thoroughly enjoy it and I wouldn't want to be doing anything else." In happier times, in the spring of 1999, Captain Gordon Wood reckoned "people would kill to have my job". The TopCat fast ferry, decked out as a taniwha, prowls Wellington Harbour early on New Year Day as part of a dawn millennium ceremony.
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