HSC Champion Jet 1
ex Condor Vitesse, Incat 044
© Dimitris Mentakis (Piraeus, 07/05/2023)
Aluminium 86 Metre ‘Wave Piercing’ catamaran built in 1997 by International Catamarans (Incat) Australia Pty Ltd, Hobart, Australia (Yard No 044) as a car and passenger ferry for International Catamarans Pty Ltd, Nassau, Bahamas
Technical Data
- Length: 86.62m (overall), 71.8m (between perpendiculars)
- Breadth: 26.00m
- Draught: 3.628m
- Tonnage: 5,007 gross/2,002 net/350 deadweight
- Engines: Four 20-cyl, Ruston 20RK270 diesels
- Power: 28,320 kW
- Speed: 40.5 knots
- Capacity: 800 passengers, 200 cars (as built), 1,000 passengers, 200 cars (2015)
- Call Sign: C60X9, 5BFR4
- IMO number: 9151008
- MMSI number: 209440000
- Registry: Nassau/Bahamas 🇧🇸, Limassol/Cyprus 🇨🇾
- Sister ships: Incat 042, Incat 043, Incat 045
Current AIS Location
Please note that this specific vessels AIS position data may be over an hour old and that the vessels position will only be displayed when it is within range of the VesselFinder AIS system. The AIS transponder/ship position data featured on this page is intended for information purposes only and it is in no way related to the 'Safety of Navigation at Sea'. All the AIS ship position data featured within this article is provided by VesselFinder and we are therefore not responsible for its content or its accuracy.
History
May 7th 1997: Launched.
June 1997: Delivered to International Catamarans Pty. Ltd, Nassau, Bahamas.
July 1997: Left builders for England and then laid-up in Portland.
1997: Registered Owner; Sovereign Business Finance Ltd.
October 1997: Promotional visit to Århus, Denmark.
May 1st 1998: Chartered to Condor Ferries Ltd., Poole. Renamed CONDOR VITESSE for services between Weymouth – Jersey – Guernsey – St Malo.
November 9th 1999: Left Falmouth for Wellington, New Zealand.
December 1st 1999: Arrived in Wellington.
December 8th 1999 – April 26th 2000: Chartered to Tranz Rail, New Zealand for services between Wellington – Picton.
© Yvon Perchoc
April 27th 2000: Left Wellington for Weymouth via Darwin – Colombo – Djibouti – Valletta.
May 20th 2000: Arrived Weymouth.
May 26th 2000: Condor Ferries services between Poole – Jersey – Guernsey – St. Malo.
May 22nd 2001 – September 30th 2001: Summer services for Brittany Ferries/ Condor Ferries between Poole – Cherbourg.
2002: Registered Owner; Condor Ltd.
May 2002 – September 2002: Summer services for Brittany Ferries/Condor Ferries between Poole – Cherbourg.
© Frank Heine (St Malo, 16/06/2002)
May 2003 – September 2003: Summer services for Brittany Ferries/Condor Ferries between Poole – Cherbourg.
September 2003: Laid up at Weymouth.
April 2004 – September 2004: Summer services for Brittany Ferries/Condor Ferries between Poole – Cherbourg.
© Andreas Wörteler (Weymouth, 20/04/2004)
May 2005: Marketed under the brand name “NORMANDIE VITESSE” for services between Cherbourg – Poole.
© Ray Goodfellow
August 22nd 2008: Holed after colliding with a jetty in St Malo.
© Tony Garner (St Peters Port, 01/09/2014)
January 14th 2015: It was announced that the HSC CONDOR VITESSE and her sister-ship, the HSC CONDOR EXPRESS, had been sold to the rapidly expanding Greek ferry operator Seajets for an undisclosed sum. Both vessels would be delivered to their new owners following the successful introduction of the new Austal built trimaran HSC CONDOR LIBERATION. Seajets announced that they would rename the vessel CHAMPION JET 1.
February 9th 2015: Departed Weymouth for the last time heading for drydocking at Falmouth. During her dry docking the Condor branding was removed from her hull.
© Barrie Clark (Falmouth, 10/02/2015)
© Barrie Clark (Falmouth, 08/03/2015)
March 2015: Expected departure for Piraeus. The CONDOR VITESSE and the HSC CONDOR EXPRESS would replace two existing vessels in the Seajet fleet, the HIGH SPEED JET (ex Hoverspeed Great Britain) and MASTER JET (ex Hoverspeed France) on the route from Piraeus to the various islands of the Aegean, with Santorini as the final port of call.
March 6th 2015: Renamed CHAMPION JET 1.
March 9th 2015: Departed Falmouth for Piraeus, Greece.
March 14th 2015: Arrived at the Port of Piraeus, Greece for refit and to be prepared for service. According to Seajets she will see service from Piraeus to Mykonos, Naxos and Thira/Santorini between 1 June and 20 September.
May 30th 2015: Maiden crossing to/from Piraeus.
© Dimitris Mentakis (Piraeus, 30/05/2015)
© Dimitris Mentakis (Piraeus, 01/05/2016)
December 2018: Chartered to Armas and sailed to The Canary Islands.
© Alex Marreo (Santa Cruz, Tenerife 13/12/2018)
January 2019: Conducted trials prior to entering service Los Cristianos (Tenerife) – La Gomera
June 15th 2019: Armas-Trasmediterranea announced that from 1 July CHAMPION JET 1 will offer fast service on the lines of Almeria-Melilla and Malaga-Melilla.
June 2019: Santa Cruz de Tenerife – Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, replacing the ALMUDAINA DOS (in drydock for a few weeks).
© Alex Marrero (Santa Cruz de Tenerife, 09/06/2019)
July 12th 2019: Commenced service between Almeria-Melilla and Malaga-Melilla.
August 28th 2019: Laid up in Motril (Spain).
March 7th 2020: Left Motril under tow from SEABUFFALO (IMO 7719686), bound for Piraeus.
March 21st 2020: Docked in Piraeus.
© Emmanuel. L. Stafrace
November 9th 2020: (Many certificates expired) Under tow, left Piraeus.
November 10th 2020: Arrived Chalkis (Greece).
February 2020: Refit.
March 2020: Left Chalkis under tow to the Koros shipyard in Salamina for change of a crankshaft.
April 2nd 2021: Under tow, left for Kavala, (Island of Salamis, Greece)
July 8th 2021: Trials
July 13th 2021: Left Kavala for Limnos and onward to services Skopelos- Alonnisos- Mantoudi.
August 31st 2021: Thira (Santorini)
September 27th 2021: To Sitia as relief for SUPERUNNER JET (ex Superseacat Four).
October 13th 2021: Services Sitia – Ag Nikolaos – Santorini.
October 31st 2021: Final seasonal service.
January 14th 2022: Dry docked in Salamina.
January 20th 2022: Returned to Piraeus and laid up..
April 14th: 2022: Services Piraeus – Serifos – Sifnos – Milos.
© Dimitris Mentakis (Piraeus, 11/05/2022)
July 18th 2022: Thessaloniki – Limnos – Mytilene route
September 6th 2022: Final seasonal service Thessaloniki – Limnos – Mytilene route.
September 7th 2022: Sailed to Piraeus.
September 2022: Moored in Piraeus then sailed to Salamina for seasonal maintenance.
March 15th 2023: Left Salamina and sailed to Piraeus.
April 7th 2023: Services Piraeus – Mykonos – Paros – Naxos – Koufonisi.
© Dimitris Mentakis (Piraeus, 07/05/2023)
May 26th 2023: Services Piraeus – Paros- Mykonos – Tinos – Rafina (and return).
June 2nd 2023: Whilst manoeuvring at the port of Tinos collided with the ferry Ekaterini P (IMO: 9000443)
“While manoeuvring at the port of Tinos, was in collision with the ferry ‘Ekaterini P’ (IMO: 9000443), while serving its scheduled route from the port of Rafina to Andros, Tinos, Mykonos, Naxos, Paros, and Piraeus with 686 passengers on board. The ‘Ekaterini P’ was on its scheduled route from the port of Naxos to Mykonos, Tinos, and Rafina with 217 passengers on board. The ‘Champion Jet 1’ berthed safely at Tinos. No injuries and no pollution were reported. The Port Authority of Tinos carried out a preliminary investigation. Both ships could continue their operations after a class maintenance certificates was issued by the monitoring classification societies”.
All information is believed to be correct and no responsibility is accepted for any errors or omissions. All items included in this article are subject to © copyright. We would like to take this opportunity of thanking: Barrie Clark, Fotoflite, Tony Garner, Frank Heine, Alex Marrero, Dimitris Mentakis, Yvon Perchoc, Emmanuel. L. Stafrace and Andreas Wörteler their assistance in producing this feature.
Article © Nigel Thornton and Ray Goodfellow (Dover Ferry Photos Group)
