Gone But Not Forgotten - Dover to Ostend SEA CAT service

Filmed at the same time as the cross channel Hovercraft were being phased out this is very much the companion piece to the Hovercraft film. Although these types of ships are still in service on other routes you are unlikely to get the same airborne visitors that this route used to regularly enjoy.

[@darryldyke1264]

Used this quite a few times. Great for motorbikes and I would love to see ferries to Ostend being reinstated.

[@MoA-Reload...]

Well that's a blast from the past. I worked on Rapide when she was transferred to Belfast. She replaced Hoverspeed Great Britain on Bel-Heysham. That route came to a sticky end when Rapide had a massive engine room fire in her port side engine room(was a fun shift 😂)
She went into dry dock in Belfast for repairs and Seacat Scotland, that did Bel - Troon, was in for refit at the same time. After Scotland came out all nice n shiny we had her Bel - Troon for a couple more months and then as always happened Dover took her so we had Rapide for Bel - Troon plus covering IOM TT for iirc 2 more seasons until Seacat/Hoverspeed shut down in '05.
Rapide was imo at least kind of the jinx ship of the fleet. She had that massive fire but wasn't the only time she had a serious attempt at killing me. Her reliability was always a bit meh but after the fire she was plagued with engine problems. That whole first season after repair/refit we were regularly running down an engine and Bel - Troon that meant an hour extra per round trip. Considering a long shift was double rounds and already 11 hours, 2 extra hours were a nightmare. She also always had a bit of a design flaw in ventilation on the vehicle deck up the "helter skelter" in the bow. On the vehicle deck there's an extra deck we'd shove smaller cars up into but most drivers would hold their cars on the clutch on the ramp up into the bow way to long. Because ventilation up in that bow was never really good enough, the smell of burnt clutches and exhaust fumes came up into the main cabin and it stank.
Last I checked in with her she's now owned and operated by Baleària and renamed HSC Jaume II based out of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. At some point she's had extensive refit on the stern as instead of 2 vehicle ramps port and strbrd, there's just one in the middle.
She wasn't Seacat Scotland but still a nice ship when she worked 😊

[@television1066]

Thanks for sharing your story. It's the kind of thing you normally never get to hear about. The fire must have been quite an alarming experience. Glad to hear she is still in service.

[@Spookieham]

I did Folkestone to Boulonge once on the Seacat. I threw up all the way there and all the way back. Thank Christ for the tunnel now.

[@television1066]

😂To be fair, the tunnel is very convenient

[@CaymanIslandsCatWalks]

Only time I ever had motion sickness! Must’ve been early 90s,

[@thatguyfromcetialphaV]

Went to Amsterdam and travelled on one of these in 2002. Wasn't as fast as the hovercraft though!

[@daveboon5992]

Re-engineered in Cowes ! Some Job !!

[@simracer1256]

Gosh. How exciting.

[@alandominey8972]

Why is this presented by someone who presents angling shows ?

[@mrbojangles8133]

as it's slower than the Hovercraft so he thought he might get some fishing in? 😀