VESSEL REVIEW | Rocket Rebel – UK operator welcomes fast sightseeing boat to River Thames fleet

Thames Rockets, a company specialising in sightseeing trips on the River Thames in the UK capital of London, recently welcomed a new high-speed boat into service.

Rocket Rebel was designed by local naval architecture firm Chartwell Marine and built by Isle of Wight-based Diverse Marine as a lightweight aluminium boat capable of transporting 26 passengers.

Two Hamilton waterjets driven by Volvo Penta 540kW (725hp) engines propel the boat to speeds of up to 30 knots and enable it to execute tight turns.

At 16 metres (52 feet) long, Rocket Rebel is also the largest vessel in the Thames Rockets speedboat fleet. Its expanded seating capacity meanwhile makes it ideal for group tours, corporate events, and private gatherings in addition to regular sightseeing trips.

The boat departs on hourly trips and takes passengers around the Thames to see attractions throughout the capital such as the London Eye, St Paul’s Cathedral, Tower Bridge, HMS Belfast, and the Tower of London.

A new way of touring by boat through Central London

“This is a first of its kind high-speed commercial craft built under the IMO High-Speed Craft Coding,” Charlie Matheson, Managing Director of Thames Rockets, told Baird Maritime. "There has been nothing built to this standard before.”

Matheson said the design work on Rocket Rebel drew some inspiration from another vessel operating in New York Harbor in the US. However, the other vessel was built under a different set of licencing, and so the knowhow and technology could not be used in building Thames Rockets’ new boat.

Matheson explained that the company wanted to provide, “a contemporary and sleek, cool and sexy way,” of letting visitors see London’s attractions via the Thames as a novel alternative to the older, slower boats that are operating on the river.

The new boat also needed to be IMO Tier III-compliant, and Matheson said that the new boat is, “a huge step forward from an emissions point of view.”

Although the helm station was placed further aft, the helm operator benefits from an unobstructed all-round view. Thames Rockets wanted this part of the boat to be as less complicated as possible to make sure that the operator has a clear view all the way around and be fully aware of surrounding vessel traffic.

“We use Hamilton jets as there’s a lot of debris on the Thames, and we don’t want to have impact damage,” said Matheson. “Jets also provide good acceleration and good manoeuvrability, and it’s definitely the way forward for us.”

Providing a new sightseeing experience while guaranteeing safety

As Rocket Rebel is a prototype, its development posed challenges and compelled Thames Rockets to adopt novel solutions.

“We had to get maritime barristers involved to re-interpret the law and make sure that we could build something that met specifications while still giving customers an exciting ride," Matheson told Baird Maritime.

"From the point of view of safety, we had to meet High-Speed Craft Code parameters. Those are very stringent, so to try and pack all those rules and regulations into a product that’s still exciting has been a challenge, and we thought that we’ve achieved that."

Matheson explained that complying with such parameters was a challenge mainly because no company worldwide had yet attempted to do so while ensuring that a vessel could take 20 or more passengers on high-speed trips in any city.

“Everything had to be considered and also had to be ‘reverse naval architectured’ to an extent. With this boat, we had to consider the customer ride experience. we wanted to get the vessel to lean into turns at high speed, to ‘carve’ the water, and to glide over the water for the customers to feel that experience.”

Thames Rockets needed to design the boat so it was close to the water, which Matheson said is, “not the usual ‘naval architecture’ way of thinking.” The freeboard was kept as low as possible so that passengers can really feel the boat when it leans into corners and gets close to the water.

“That’s all been designed with customer ride in mind, and it’s a different way of thinking,” Matheson told Baird Maritime. “We wanted it to be very smooth, fast and leaning. It’s not like going on a roller coaster or a whitewater raft; it’s a different experience in itself.”