Feature 4 | OFFSHORE WIND FARM SUPPORT VESSELS New kid off the blocks
Ship & Boat International travels to CTruk Boats’ UK facilities for a trial run aboard the yard’s latest offshore wind farm support vessel, CWind Athenia.
makes its way to Brightlingsea, Essex, to visit UK catamaran builder CTruk Boats, for a full tour of the latest offshore wind farm support vessel in the company’s CTruk 20T MPC family, CWind Athenia. We’re mere days before the vessel makes her debut, on 13 February, at the London Array, the world’s largest wind turbine farm. Situated approximately an hour’s sail from the CTruk Boats facilities, the London Array is intended to generate 1000MW of energy upon completion, providing the power for an estimated 750,000 UK homes. Te dank, icy conditions might not be ideal but, as the mounds of uncleared snow from the much-publicised UK Winter loom on the horizon as we approach the yard, it becomes obvious that there is no better time to check CWind Athenia’s wheelhouse heating system, at the very least.
A
TECHNICAL PARTICULARS CWind Athenia
Builder / designer ................CTruk Boats, UK Length, oa ...........................................18.5m Length, bp .........................................15.75m Depth, moulded .................................2.28m Displacement .................................24tonnes Design, deadweight ..................23.3tonnes Lightweight ..................................20.7tonnes Range (nautical miles) ......................... 2400 Service speed .................................. 25knots Max speed ....................................... 30knots Country
......................................................UK Flag
............................................................UK Classification ................................DNV1A1 HSLC R2 Wind Farm Service, MCA Category 2
Main engines.............2 x Cummins QSM11, 448.7kW each
Waterjets ................2 x Rolls-Royce FFRR 41 Complement Crew ......................................................... 2 Passengers ............................................. 14 Number of vehicle decks ....................... 1 Total lane length ..................................6m
38 Ship & Boat International March/April 2012
dark February morning sky threatens to unleash a fresh cascade of snow as Ship & Boat International
CWind Athenia represents a continuation
of the CTruk 20T MPC design, first profiled with the launch, last year, of the prototype vessel Asherah (see Ship & Boat International, July-August 2011) and the first-in-class CWind Alliance. Alongside CWind Athenia, says Ben Simpson, CTruk Boats managing director, the yard will complete another six CTruk 20T MPC vessels this year, as well as the yard’s first small-waterplane-area twin hull (SWATH) vessel, the latter provisionally scheduled to enter service by the end of June 2012, and intended to feature a length of 19.35m and a top speed of 26knots. As with most of the vessels in this series,
CWind Athenia is being operated by CWind, CTruk Boats’ sister company and a provider of specialist solutions for the offshore wind farm sector, including the National Wind Farm Training Centre.
Flexible options A common feature of this vessel class is the flexibility to move the wheelhouse to the fore and aſt of the deck, thereby enabling CWind Athenia’s crew to make maximum use of existing deck space, increasing the group’s scope for multiple charters and multipurpose missions.
For instance, a detachable passenger pod
can be snapped onto the deck, aſt, via crane, to increase the catamaran’s passenger capacity when transporting technicians from shore to the turbines during periods of high service demand. Alternatively, should the vessel need to transport a sizable amount of equipment to the wind farm site, the pod can be liſted and removed, to free up the craft’s deck space. Te vessel’s crew can also undertake emergency response call-outs, should a technician encounter a problem on the turbine (such as being stranded due to low tides) by utilising CWind Athenia’s 6m lane length to accommodate the group’s self-built CTruk Avenger amphibious rescue craft. Featuring a length of 4.8m, a beam of 2.65m and a draught of 0.7m, the CTruk Avenger is capable of tackling significant wave heights of up to 1.5m and of travelling at up to 20mph while on land and 6mph in water. Aboard the vessel, the low noise and
vibration level within the wheelhouse is instantly notable. CWind Athenia offers a smooth ride through the choppy waters: operating at approximately 20-25knots, it is easy to stand upright without recourse to gripping the seat tops to remain on balance, and certainly proves a more comfortable
The boat’s 6m lane length can accommodate the CTruck Avenger 4.8m amphibious rescue craft.
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