Seen here approaching the port of Guernsey is one of Condor Ferries high speed catamarans, Condor Rapide. This vessel is perhaps the most interesting in their fleet.

She was constructed by Incat in Tasmania and launched in November 1997. For a short period, she operated for TT Ferries between Victoria and Tasmania in Australia. She was then chartered by the Australian Government for logistics and transport operations. The ship was commissioned into the Royal Australian Navy as HMAS Jervis Bay, becoming the first large catamaran in military service. She was decommissioned in 2001, regaining her original name, Incat 045. In 2002, she was chartered out to Italian company TRIS, and operated between Genoa and Palau until the company collapsed later in 2002. She was than laid up at Portland for 2 years until 2004, when the ferry was chartered by SpeedFerries and renamed HSC SpeedOne. She operated between Dover and Boulogne. In late November 2008, she was laid up once again, this time in Tilbury, after the collapse of SpeedFerries. She was named Speed Leopard.

On 26 March 2010 it was announced that the vessel had been purchased by Condor Ferries and renamed Condor Rapide, replacing HSC Condor 10 on the Guernsey / Jersey to St. Malo route. [4]

Condor Rapide transports both vehicles and foot passengers between the Channel Islands and France and due to the higher ramp capacity, larger freight vehicles are able to use ro-ro services that were previously not-available on a daily scheduled basis.

This is her current working. An extremely eventful life for this 15 year old ferry. I do like this, and I don't have the problem some passengers have of being violently sea-sick in rougher seas. On the day this photo was taken, the sea was dead calm. I took the photo from another of Condor Ferries' ships, HSC Condor Vitesse, a sister ship which has worked for Condor its entire life. I had just travelled from Poole and was on my way to Jersey for a short week holiday.