Suilven was a Strait Shipping ferry from 1995 to 2002. Her distinction in the rollcall of ships-that-go-past-the-bay is due to some spectacular video footage of her heading into Cook Strait in the big storm of 6 February 2002 (mid summer!). This was filmed from around the corner in Lyall Bay in a once-in-five-or-ten-years kind of storm. The ferries don’t usually run in such heavy seas so it’s quite a rare sight. According to the metservice (link below) the swells were about 8m.
Sadly she capsized and sunk in Fiji in 2015.
From Breaker Bay. Picture: John Travers
Built: 1974, Norway
LOA: 86.52m
Beam: 15.5m
Gross Tonnage: 3638 tons
Draft: 5m
Service Speed: 13kn
Vessel ID: 7383487
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