Nosferatu

Utter shite , not even a mention of bricks being launched at the thing between Percy Main and Meadow Well or of piss soaked tramps wanting to lend a tab .

Accidentally ended up on the first page of this topic and saw Amadeus recommend some mob called Celldweller , good call ! Good heavy industrial/dance stuff with guitars as heavy as a sack of spanners and plenty of weird electronic bleeps and suchlike . Here they are with a catchy little number called Last Firstborn . Cheers Amadeus I'll be looking out for more of this sort of thing .

Hmm sounds familiar , only difference being that on another occasion the captain decided to take the pax , we got clear of the channel only for a window in the cabin to shatter when we bounced over a particularly hefty wave , probably due to all that flexing . Cue bedlam as the poor sod sitting next to said window was covered in saftey glass , then hilarity as the deckies tried to cover the now empty window with some heavy poly sheeting and gaffer tape . Problem solved when me & the motorman stole the door from the emergency geny room and propped it in place with some scaffold poles . Was it "The Panther" by any chance , he was always keen to have a go in the crap weather . See above

Hehe I bet a few puke bags were dished out on that sailing . Bit confused as to the abundance of shipping videos on a guitar website though

Fair point Lost , I was working with a theory that if the freight side of things was less restricted then it could be more profitable hence my choice of the more versatile ship , that way the pax service could still be maintained to a reasonable degree . Still if it was as easy as that you'd like to think that somebody would already have done it .

As you quite rightly pointed out Barrie I am an amateur , the fact that the ship broking site I found happened to be in NZ doesn't really matter . I was merely trying to point out what alternatives there are to what the SP currently operate and thought that the vessels I linked gave a reasonable example of said alternatives . The 2nd site was Norewgian , fairly local I would have thought .

Ok here's my attempt to answer the OP about starting from scratch. If I somehow acquired a few hundred million to play with and decided to buy myself the racket , first thing I'd do is review the current vessels and decide on their suitability for the job in hand . Ben My Chree , fairly reliable but is let down by it's dual purpose. If it was purely a freight boat then it would be adequate but it is hampered by the need to accomodate the pax whether it be the inability to sail in conditions that would be too uncomfortable for pax or the restrictions as to which sailings carry dangerous goods . Likewise as a pure pax boat it would be just about adequate as without the worry for cargo space there could be better pax facilities aboard . Personally I think the Ben is a very poor pax boat so I'd look at 2 options if I was the man in charge with the cheque book . Option 1 convert the Ben to a pure freight boat , this would probably be a bit pointless as the facilities for the pax are already in place and losing them wouldn't really do much to the freight capacity . Option 2 sell it . Approx value not sure but I'd guess at $8m + Manannan , a diesel drinking monster that can't go in shit weather . Sell it . Approx value $15m (Prices based on those displayed HERE Snaffle , nobody is going to be stupid enough to buy it , so again 2 options , keep it going til it dies or scrap it . I'd look at the cost of running and maintaining it and decide based on that . Ok so now what , in theory I've sold 2 ships and possibly have the Snaffle still mooching about . I'd be looking to replace the Ben and the Manannan , so what with ? A possible freight vessel ! It's RO-RO as well as LO-LO , therefore increasing the choice of ports that it can operate to and from . It's already registered here , the dimensions are similar to the Ben so there should be no problem with it fitting in Douglas harbour , likewise it has thrusters so manoeuverability is not an issue and only a couple of years older than the Ben . Just a pity the price isn't shown . Ok now for the tricky part , by losing the Manannan and the Ben there is a potential 1400 pax shortfall to make up without compromising speed and comfort . Ideally a vessel that has a pax capacity of at least 1000 and a service speed of at least 17kn and not some ancient heap . A couple of potential vessels Here Once the ships have been sorted then onto the nitty gritty , where do the pax actually want to travel to and what would they consider to be a fair price ? Where would be the best freight port to operate from ? More to come when I can be arsed .

Just had a trip back to the 90's watching some videos by Cranberries , Garbage , Curve , Leftfield , U96 and a few other randoms thrown in . Good old you tube .

There's also things like tappet clearance checks , injector changes , crankcase inspections to lump in with the routine maintainance . It could also be for more run of the mill stuff that you can't do with the passengers milling about , ie testing fire hydrants , car deck sprinklers etc . Not all necessarily engine gear , the deckies will have stuff up on the bridge to do as well .

I can't help but laugh at the sheer hypocrisy of the racket . They employ amongst others Latvian , Estonian and Russian engineers as well as a healthy smattering of other EU nationals. I'm very sceptical about their claims that 300 of their staff are island based , admittedly I've got no idea how many people are in the offices and booking side of things but during my time there I'd say that at least 60% of the fast cat crews were NOT island based. I can see why the crews are worried and unfortunately they have been put in that position by the piss poor management . Most businesses when losing their customers would try and win them back with btter deals , better service or some form of incentives , the sheer arrogance of MW to come out and essentially say "well the freight customers have got sick of being royally screwed and ran away so now you passengers are going to have to bend over and take it instead" . No wonder people are waiting to see him fall flat on his arse .If there are redundancies made and I hope there aren't then it's no fault of Mezeron or Tesco or Shoprite but down to the arrogance and pomposity of those who abused and milked the UA for every last penny and now that in harder economic times are wondering why people are looking for cheaper alternatives. There has been some talk that we shouldn't let the racket be wiped out 180 yrs of history and all that , lets be honest "Isle of Man Steam Packet Company" is just a brand name now , the company is owned and controlled by an Australian investment bank . If one of the big players in the ferry game came along and made them an offer ie AP Moller group or DFDS then I doubt we'd even have the name any more , the current vessels might escape with a Mearsk or DFDS prefix but the rest of it would be munched and would become Norfolk Line IoM or DFDS Irish sea . Ideally I'd actually like to see the racket survive for the sake of all the good people that work there and that this gives the parent company a firm kick up the arse to get things into perspective , time will tell .

This week I have mostly been listening to . Stone Roses : The collection (or greatest hits or whatever the fuck it's called) Anthrax : Sound of white noise Janes Addiction : Nothing shocking Wildhearts : Phuq And BBC 6Music quite liked the stuff I heard by Duckworth Lewis Method (Neil Hannon from Divine Comedy and some beardy bloke)

If you are in the Rovers, it is best to assume that everyone is on manxforums. I saw ya. Hmm I'll bear that in mind next time I'm in there . Feel free to say hello if you spot me again I'm quite a friendly drunk .

Probably a sensible idea I was quite well refreshed .

Was in the rovers last night . Don't know if I spotted anyone or not as I haven't got a clue what most of you look like .

Had a natter with Oogie down at the bay last night .