'IZURDIA' THE PORT OF BAYONNE'S INTERCEPTOR 42 'PILOT'

'IZURDIA'  The Port of Bayonne's new Interceptor 42 'Pilot' has been launched. Seen below are some photographs taken during rough weather sea keeping trials at the entrance to Cork Harbour with up to 40kts of wind, 4-5m breaking seas during the full ebb tide, creating challenging wind against swell conditions at the entrance. She handled the conditions effortlessly demonstrating her tremendous stability and the ability to deal with heavy weather when necessary. You can see a video of the sea trial on you tube from this link- SEE THE VIDEO

Above, Putting her head into a breaking sea.

Bertrand Moutard of the Bayonne pilots syndicate ordered his new pilot boat shortly after Eric Geille from St Malo Pilots took delivery of his Interceptor 42 pilot vessel from Safehaven in 2008 and Izurdia  is very similar in specification. Working closely with Bayonne pilots Safehaven have incorporated some unique changes to the design, she features a storage hold on the port side of the superstructure incorporating a Jason's cradle, which is stored in this compartment, and quickly deployed over the side and recovered via a winch / pulley system on the cabin roof, another example of how Safehaven work with their customers to build unique, custom built vessels that meet the owners specific needs.

Another feature of her is the Pilot boarding ladders, again Safehaven sought to design a functional yet ascetically pleasing solution to maximizing pilot safety during the often dangerous boarding procedures a pilot undertakes.

 She is fitted out to the very highest standards for pilot vessels her cabin is full lined in vinyl and features gloss black laminates contracting with an etched aluminium laminate for a very contemporary design. She features Grammar air suspension seating for pilots and crew providing a comfortable ride, enhanced by very low noise levels of only 74db. She has an operational speed of 22kts and is powered by twin Volvo D12 engines at a continuous heavy duty rating of 500hp. She is fitted with a  Twin Disc 5114sc quick shift  gearboxes through 5 blade propellers supplied by Clements Engineering, providing effortless control in closer quarter maneuvers due to the trolling feature giving slow speed control down to less than 3kts. Her specification includes an Enag 3.5kw alternator providing a full charge at tick over, engine heaters running from a 240v shore power supply and ring circuit, battery charger, 2000w inverter, dual navigation lights and mimic boards Izurdia. Fitted with Raymarines high definition digital radar and GPS plotter through twin 12” screens, Twin Sailor VHF radios with repeaters at the pilot seats, close circuit cameras monitoring the engine room. She was built to Bureau Veritas approved plans under their survey and constructed in accordance with the requirements of all the French Marine Marchande rules such as Divisions 222 +236. Fully fendered throughout and fitted with Safehavens unique sacrificial shoulder fender, now fully proven over two years in service on previous vessels it provides excellent protection to the vessel during boarding, is durable and economical to replace when worn. During sea trials her exceptional seakeeping was demonstrated with her owner aboard in a force 8 gale and 5m seas from which the excellent series of photographs accompanying this article were taken, Bertrand Moutard was very impressed with her commenting “At Bayonne we have a dangerous bar where the Atlantic swells can reach over 10m in height, and we needed a vessel with exceptional seakeeping to safely navigate the bar, this is why we chose an Interceptor”

Above and below, coming off a 5m / 16ft breaking wave

Above and below, we had pretty big breakers on this day up to 5m in height and breaking heavily, made for some impressive photographs and video, a nice shot below running flat out before a big sea,

'IZURDIA' operating successfully in her home Port of Bayonne, France.

Izurdia has been in service for the past two months. Her pilots and crew are very happy with her, testimony to this is a complimentary e mail from the Ports chief pilot Bertrand Moutard:

Hi Frank.

The boys went outside at the beginning of the bad weather, with about 5 meters, and they have all been surprised with her excellent sea keeping and specially how they could maintained a good speed in this condition. On Saturday morning, we catch a peak of 10 m and the boys have asked to go outside for playing with the boat. As we have no ships to do, I haven't give them the permission and told them that we will have time to play in big seas in future. Every body is also very impressive about the low level of noise ! The standard of comfort is now very high. They all said that at the end of a working day, they are less tired than before. So, I answered that we can now reduced the vacation time ! Also from outside, ie when you embark from a pontoon, you don't ear any noise. It 's a kind of furtive boat  and you should investigate the pirat boat market !

  All the crew and pilots are 300 % very happy with your building. In Bayonne, we have now passed a big step in terms of level of quality of pilot boats. On the other boat, I have had always some bad comments after launching. With Izurdia, I received nothing ! and after 2 week of operation, I still have nothing. The transfer boarding ladder we have designed are excellent !

  Thanks again for this excellent boat.

  Bertrand

Below is a photo of her moored alongside the Ports existing vessels.

Below, Izurdia is a fine looking pilot vessel with distinctive and graceful lines.

Her Interior is fitted out to the highest standard, white vinyl side and headlining, a gloss black laminate with teak trimming on all internal furniture, the window surrounds are in a brushed effect aluminum finish, all making for a modern, contempery feel inside.

Bertrand ordered his new pilot boat shortly after Eric Geille from St Malo ordered his vessel in 2008. She is very similar in specification to the previously supplied pilot boat for St Malo but powered by Volvo D12 engines at 450hp.  Together we have incorporated some unique changes to the design, she does not have the aft MOB recovery platform, but features a storage hold on the port side of the superstructure incorporating a Jason's cradle, which is stored in this compartment, and quickly deployed over the side and recovered via a winch / pulley system on the cabin roof, another example of how Safehaven work with their customers to build unique, custom built vessels that meet the owners specific needs.

Above & below. The new  pilots boarding ladder we are developing, the first of which will be fitted to Izurdia.

Below, the Jason cradle system for MOB recovery system

Below, the specially developed 'BOW PUSHER' to allow a pilot boat to engage in light tug duties in assisting maneuvering smaller ships within the harbor during docking.