About the boat .....

The new Condor Express is a high speed
turbo jet catamaran, generating almost 3000 hp.
Specially designed for rough water, it was
put in the water in Bellingham, WA on
Feb. 16, 2002. After sea trials, it left
for home in Santa Barbara on Feb. 28.
I joined the maiden voyage in Crescent City
on March 2. I spent the next three days field
testing the vessel for birding ... it's a
dirty thankless job ... I did not detect any
other birders asea from Crescent City to
Santa Barbara.

To say it is the most modern vessel is an
understatement. It is the most everything:
biggest, fastest, smoothest, prettiest,
high-tech vessel you've ever seen or been on!

It is 75' x 26', weighing 42 tons, very light
for the size. It drafts 3' dockside, 18" when
flying! It has four diesels each with its own
turbo jet. No props, no stinky exhaust.
It seats 68 inside the main cabin, at table
"booths" with 3-4" foam padded seats.
The windows stay spray-free most of the time;
by the time the spray comes down, the boat is
long gone. It has a full galley, including
bar and hot buffet table. Plasma screen TV's,
DVD, VHS, etc. It's the cats meow.

It was clocked in sea trials at 43.7 Knots,
or, about 50 mph!!! Acceleration, response,
and handling are incredible. It cruises at
30 knots, at about 1950 rpm's. We can cover
ground at high speed, and then slow to a
resonable birding speed, say 15-20 knots,
and see how good you are! But, we can catch
anything we see! Never has this been
anything but a fantasy!

Forty passengers can be seated on the sundeck
above the main cabin. There is another cozy
seat for two leaders above the wheelhouse
about 30' up!!! A great seat is also up front
on the bow, where it is situated like the one
on the wheelhouse to be out of the deflected
wind. There is an ample and roomy stern area
too, important for birders. Two can pass in
opposite directions along the rails without
consumating your friendship. :)

Dolphins get between the two hulls when
bowriding, (yeah, we'll slow down for 'em)
besides on the outsides, and the view straight
down, is unbelieveable. Many more people
can see better from this type of bow too,
big and square. I think the turbo jets are
much quieter underwater, as surely the Orcas
and whales didn't give a rat's rear about our
presence.

It rides soooo smoothly compared to
single-hulled vessels, it is amazing.
It is hydrofoil assisted, and incredibly smooth,
in 6-foot seas, you can hardly tell. There is
nothing more frustrating for a pelagic leader
than seeing something only some or a few of
the people on board see. I can think of some
darn good records that half the boat saw,
because everything has historically only
done 10 knots. That can now be kept to a minimum,
with the speed to outfly anything, except in
the worst of seas. Further the P.A. system is
the best you ever heard! Expect any less at
this point???

Last years' Dark-rump Petrel, the Wedge-rumped
Storm-Petrel, and the Red-tailed Tropicbird
could ALL have easily been run down with this
vessel ... look out birds! Here we come!