Fairway Channel News

“Swift” Passage Establishes Barrier Reef Speed

HSV 2 Swift, the Incat-built U.S. Navy high speed Wave Piercing Catamaran delivered by the Hobart, Tasmania-based shipyard last month, has completed the fastest ever transit of the northern Great Barrier Reef from Cairns to Booby Island. The distance is 488 n.m. pilot to pilot and on August 31 the Swift covered the distance in 12.5 hours at an average speed of 39.04 knots. The speed takes into account the period required to slow down to embark and disembark the pilot and once underway the transit was made at an actual speed of over 40 knots.