Polar cruise ship ‘Greg Mortimer’s X-BOW design feature is claimed to improve on board comfort in head seas, as it helps to reduce slamming and resulting vibrations.
As a result, the vessel can maintain speed in adverse weather to get quickly through the harshest stretches of waters, such as the notorious Drake Passage.
The first patented Ulstein X-BOW polar cruise vessel, ‘Greg Mortimer’ is currently undertaking her first Antarctica expedition.
X-BOW reduces the slamming in head seas, which was proven when the vessel sailed from China to Argentina, encountering 10 m high waves and very strong winds.
Shipowner SunStone Ships is based in the US, the travel operator Aurora Expeditions is Australian, the ship designer was Norwegian, and the ship yard Chinese.
‘Greg Mortimer’ encountered very bad weather after leaving Cape Town for Ushuaia, Argentina. According to the Master, the waves were 8-10 m, with some waves reaching above Deck 5, and strong winds. The vessel still kept a speed of 12-13 knots, with only a 1 knot speed loss.
“It’s a totally different experience! In big seas, I kept waiting for the slamming, but it never came. You don’t feel the sea, you have to relearn how to interpret the vessel behaviour. Other ships can only keep half the speed,” explained Capt Ulf-Peter Lindstrøm who has been working in shipping for about 40 years, the last 20 years as Master.
The X-BOW design was launched by Ulstein in 2005 and is fitted on board more than 100 vessels worldwide, mostly offshore vessels.
For decades, Ulstein has been a specialist in the offshore segment before entering into offshore renewable vessels, car/passenger vessels and expedition cruise vessels markets.
