"Larry" wrote in message
...
http://www.aisliverpool.org.uk/shows...mmsi=234983000

The S/V "Ben My Chree", a 12,504 gt Ro-Ro/Passenger vessel is, to quote
their AIS beacon "underway by SAIL" headed for Heysham. She's making over
19 knots!

Looking at the picture, I can't tell whether she's a sloop or ketch. She
must have had her masts laying on the deck when the picture was
snapped....
(c;

Wind must be blowing like hell in the Irish Sea, tonight, to get that kind
of speed out of any sails!....hee hee.

Somebody call MXLG on VHF and ask 'em how tall the masts are!

--
There's amazing intelligence in the Universe.
You can tell because none of them ever called Earth.

The original Ben My Cree (pronounced BenMcRee) was owned by the Isle of Man
Steam Packet Company and was a passenger-only ship in the 1930's. I think
the company owned 2 or 3 such vessels. My father was an authority on
Liverpool and it's many ferries and took me on the Ben My Cree at the age of
6 to the Isle of Man.

It was said "she would roll on wet grass", and my distant memeory of the
trip was of puking for virtually all of the 70-mile trip through the Irish
Sea. Her beam/length ratio must have been about 1:10!

The old girl was still sailing when I was in the army in 1949, and a weekend
trip to the Isle of Man with the platoon revealed that she still rolled like
a pig! Army food must have toughened my stomach somewhat as I was only sick
once!

The two old vessels, Ben My Cree and Manxman last sailed regularly around
1980 when they did the Ardrossan (Scotland) to Douglas (IOM) trip about 3
times per week.

Currently The IOMSPC operates the modern Ben My Cree and a faster
SuperSeaCat2 which take 3.5hrs and 2hrs respectively for the 70-mile
crossing to/from Liverpool.

The attraction? Currently the Manx Grand Prix motor-cycle races and The IOM
TT races are far and away the finest motor-cycle races in the world,
attracting huge entries from enthusiasts desperate to try their luck on the
torturous mountain circuit. The 100-miles-an-hour lap was first completed by
Geoff Duke in 1955, but this is now old stuff. These races are notorious for
the fact that hardly a year passes without one or more deaths on the
circuit.

I competed in a more leisurely yacht race around the island several times in
the seventies, and I believe that a powerboat race Round-the Island takes
place in June each year.

The main attraction for Ro-Ro users is that the Isle of Man is the only
place in the UK with no speed limit!

Great AIS site!

Dennis.