Wight Sun berthed at Lymington | |
History | |
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United Kingdom | |
Name | MV Wight Sun |
Operator | Wightlink |
Route | Yarmouth to Lymington Portsmouth~Fishbourne (Seasonal relief vessel 2015 onwards) |
Builder | Kraljevica, Croatia |
Yard number | 552 |
Launched | 29 June 2008 |
Christened | by local schoolgirl Stefani Nadoh |
In service | 25 May 2009 |
Homeport | London |
Identification |
|
Status | In service |
General characteristics | |
Tonnage | 2,546 GT; 360 DWT [2] |
Length | 62.0 m (203.4 ft) |
Beam | 16.0 m (52.5 ft) |
Draught | 2.3 m (7.5 ft) |
Installed power | 4x 740bhp (552kw) Volvo Penta D16MH 16 litre 6cyl diesels |
Propulsion | 2x Voith Schneider 21 R5/135 |
Speed | 11 knots (20 km/h; 13 mph) |
Capacity | 360 passengers, 65 cars |
Crew | 10 |
MV Wight Sun is an Isle of Wight ferry built in 2008 for the British company Wightlink.
Wight Sun was built at the Brodogradiliste Kraljevica, Croatia and launched on 29 June 2008. After fitting out, she sailed the 3,071 miles to Lymington in March/April 2009 [3] and entered service with Wightlink in spring 2009. [4]
Wight Sun joined the Wight-class fleet on the Yarmouth and Lymington service. Her two sisters, Wight Light and Wight Sky entered service on 25 February 2009. In July 2015, she was transferred to the Portsmouth to Fishbourne route as a relief ferry. Wight Light, which was the relief ferry after St Helen was withdrawn, transferred back to the Lymington to Yarmouth route in its place.
Lymington is a port town on the west bank of the Lymington River on the Solent, in the New Forest district of Hampshire, England. It faces Yarmouth, Isle of Wight, to which there is a car ferry service operated by Wightlink. It is within the civil parish of Lymington and Pennington. The town has a large tourist industry, based on proximity to the New Forest and its harbour. It is a major yachting centre with three marinas. As of 2015, the parish of Lymington and Pennington had a population of 15,726.
Yarmouth is a town, port and civil parish in the west of the Isle of Wight, off the south coast of England. The town is named for its location at the mouth of the small Western Yar river. The town grew near the river crossing, originally a ferry, which was replaced with a road bridge in 1863.
Wightlink is a ferry company operating routes across The Solent between Hampshire and the Isle of Wight in the south of England. It operates car ferries between Lymington and Yarmouth, and Portsmouth and Fishbourne and a fast passenger-only catamaran between Portsmouth Harbour and Ryde Pier. The company is jointly owned by Basalt Infrastructure Partners based in the United Kingdom and Fiera Infrastructure based in Canada.
Red Funnel, the trading name of the Southampton Isle of Wight and South of England Royal Mail Steam Packet Company Limited, is a ferry company that carries passengers, vehicles and freight on routes between the English mainland and the Isle of Wight. High-speed foot passenger catamarans, known as Red Jets, run between Southampton and Cowes, while vehicle ferries run between Southampton and East Cowes.
The Lymington branch line is a railway that runs from Brockenhurst to Lymington Pier, both in the New Forest. The railway line is around 9 km (5.6 mi) long, and is single track throughout its length. It diverges from the South West Main Line at Lymington Junction; and, at Lymington Pier, trains connect with Wightlink ferry services to Yarmouth, on the Isle of Wight. The Lymington branch line is electrified using the 750 V DC third-rail system as is usual in the former Southern Region of British Railways.
Lymington Pier railway station serves the harbour area of Lymington in Hampshire, England. It is 98 miles 15 chains (158.0 km) measured from London Waterloo and is the terminus of the Lymington Branch Line from Brockenhurst and provides a connection with ferry services to Yarmouth on the Isle of Wight. It has one platform.
MV Wight Light is a car and passenger ferry built for the British ferry operator Wightlink. She is in service between mainland England and the Isle of Wight.
MV St Catherine is a Roll-on/roll-off car and passenger ferry. She served the Wightlink crossing from Portsmouth to Fishbourne, Isle of Wight from 1983 to 2009. In 2010, she was sold to Delcomar and renamed GB Conte.
There are currently three different ferry companies that operate vessels carrying passengers and, on certain routes, vehicles across the Solent, the stretch of sea that separates the Isle of Wight from mainland England. These are Wightlink, Red Funnel and Hovertravel.
MV St Helen was a vehicle and passenger ferry operated by Wightlink on its route from Portsmouth to Fishbourne on the Isle of Wight. Due to her age, she was sold and was removed from service on 26 March 2015. She now operates in Sardinia with the name Anna Mur, operated by Delcomar, together with her sister ship GB Conte, the former MV St Catherine.
MV Wight Sky is a new design of roll-on/roll-off car and passenger ferry operating on Wightlink's Lymington to Yarmouth, Isle of Wight route.
MV Red Osprey is a Raptor Class vehicle and passenger ferry operated by Red Funnel on their route from Southampton to East Cowes on the Isle of Wight. She was built by Ferguson Shipbuilders in Port Glasgow.
MV Caedmon was an Isle of Wight 'C' class ro-ro vehicle and passenger ferry. She operated for ten years on the Portsmouth to Fishbourne route before transferring to Wightlink's route from Lymington to Yarmouth. After 37 years of service, she was broken up in 2010.
MV Cenwulf was one of Wightlink's 'C' class vehicle and passenger ferries on their route from Lymington to Yarmouth on the Isle of Wight.
MV Cenred was one of Wightlink's 'C' class vehicle and passenger ferries on their route from Lymington to Yarmouth on the Isle of Wight.
HSC Our Lady Pamela was a high-speed catamaran ferry which operated between the Isle of Wight and mainland England. She had operated on the Wightlink Ryde Pier to Portsmouth route since 1986 under Sealink along with her now scrapped sister ship HSC Our Lady Patricia. Both ships were named after the daughters of Lord Mountbatten, who had been the Governor of the Isle of Wight.
HSC FastCat Shanklin is a high speed catamaran ferry which operated between the Isle of Wight and mainland England. She operated on the Wightlink Ryde Pier to Portsmouth route from 2000 to 2009 along with her sister ship HSC FastCat Ryde. Prior to working for Wightlink, the ship worked in Singapore and was named Water Jet 2. In 1999, the year before it was sold to Wightlink, its name was changed to Supercat 18.
HSC FastCat Ryde is a high speed catamaran ferry. The vessel was originally built in Singapore for service in the Philippines as Water Jet 1. She was bought by Wightlink in 2000 and following an extensive refit entered service on the Ryde Pier to Portsmouth route in August of that year along with her sister ship HSC FastCat Shanklin.
MV Lymington is a former ro-ro ferry, built in 1938 to serve the Isle of Wight. She is Britain's earliest example of a Voith Schneider driven ferry. Renamed MV Sound of Sanda in 1974, she served Western Ferries on the Upper Clyde until 1993.
MV Cuthred was an Isle of Wight ro-ro ferry built in 1969. From 1990 until 2009, she operated as Mira Praia in Portugal.
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