Formerly known as Westcoast Workboats, the Lancashire UK based charter operation, which also has an office at Ijmuiden in the Netherlands, has just taken delivery of its third WindCat vessel, with a fourth due to join the fleet next month. WindCats 5 and 6 have been ordered.

The 16m aluminium WindCats are built to the company’s patented design at a yard in Canada and feature a catamaran hull with a large flush foredeck, providing a stable platform in seas of up to 2m from which wind farm installation and maintenance personnel can safely step over to the turbine towers.

WindCat 1, which is currently working for General Electric at a wind farm off the coast of Sweden, is powered by Cummins NT855M marine diesels rated at 525hp and driving conventional stern gear through ZF gearboxes. Subsequent WindCats are powered by Volvo D12 engines rated at 615hp driving Hamilton water jets through ZF boxes. The vessels are capable of 25 knots. Later WindCats feature a crane mounted on the foredeck which<$>is used to load small wind farm components on board.

WindCat 2 is currently working at the Arklow Bank Wind Farm off Ireland. With a beam of 6.1m and a draft of only 0.8m, the craft are equally at home in shallow waters and heavy seas, providing wind farm operators with a broad operational window.

MJ Information No: 20903