MV ''Red Jet 6'' is a high-speed
Catamaran ferry constructed for
Red Funnel
Red Funnel, the trading name of the Southampton Isle of Wight and South of England Royal Mail Steam Packet Company Limited,[East Cowes
East Cowes is a town and civil parish in the north of the Isle of Wight, on the east bank of the River Medina, next to its west bank neighbour Cowes.
The two towns are connected by the Cowes Floating Bridge, a chain ferry operated by the Is ...]
on the
Isle of Wight
The Isle of Wight ( ) is a Counties of England, county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the List of islands of England#Largest islands, largest and List of islands of England#Mo ...
as the sixth member of the company's expansive ''Red Jet'' line of catamarans.
Red Funnel announced in May 2015 that they had placed an order for the £6 million vessel with
Shemara Refit LLP of East Cowes, making ''Red Jet 6'' the first high-speed ferry built in the UK in fifteen years. Red Jet 6 was constructed in East Cowes's former aircraft hangar, originally built for the
Saunders-Roe
Saunders-Roe Limited, also known as Saro, was a British aero- and marine-engineering company based at Columbine Works, East Cowes, Isle of Wight.
History
The name was adopted in 1929 after Alliott Verdon Roe (see Avro) and John Lord took ...
aircraft company. She entered service in the summer of 2016.
''Red Jet 6'' is long, with a passenger capacity of 275. She is powered by four
MTU series 2000 diesel engines, each powering a
waterjet for propulsion and steering giving a service speed of , allowing a crossing time of 23 minutes. She can operate with one engine out with only a minor reduction in speed.
''Red Jet 6'' was named by the
Princess Royal
Princess Royal is a style customarily (but not automatically) awarded by a British monarch to their eldest daughter. Although purely honorary, it is the highest honour that may be given to a female member of the royal family. There have been s ...
at a ceremony at East Cowes on 4 July 2016.
On 29 June 2017, ''Red Jet 6'' set a new record for the circumnavigation of the Isle of Wight by multihulls, starting and finishing at the
Royal Yacht Squadron
The Royal Yacht Squadron (RYS) is a British yacht club. Its clubhouse is Cowes Castle on the Isle of Wight in the United Kingdom. Member yachts are given the suffix RYS to their names, and are permitted (with the appropriate warrant) to w ...
starting line at
Cowes
Cowes () is an English seaport town and civil parish on the Isle of Wight. Cowes is located on the west bank of the estuary of the River Medina, facing the smaller town of East Cowes on the east bank. The two towns are linked by the Cowes ...
, taking 1hr, 17mins, 17secs at an average speed of .
See also
*''
Red Jet 3''
*''
Red Jet 4''
*''
Red Jet 5
MV ''Schiopparello Jet'' is a passenger catamaran ferry, formerly known as ''Bo Hengy'' and ''Red Jet 5''. She operates on routes from Piombino to the Tuscan archipelago on behalf of ferry operator Toremar (''Toscana Regionale Marittima''). S ...
''
*''
Red Jet 7''
References
External links
*
Red Jet 6 Construction time lapse at East Cowes
Ferries
Individual catamarans
Ferry transport on the Isle of Wight
Ships of Red Funnel
2016 ships
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