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Clipper Navigation, Inc. is a privately held company based in Seattle, Washington that provides multiple transportation and vacation packages, many of which are offered under the name Clipper Vacations including hotel and tour packages in Victoria, Seattle, Vancouver, Friday Harbor, Portland, Whistler, British Columbia, the Canadian Rockies and Kelowna. The company operates the popular Victoria Clipper high-speed passenger-only ferry service between downtown Seattle and the Inner Harbour in downtown Victoria, British Columbia. The various ''Victoria Clipper'' catamarans typically complete a one-way trip in less than three hours. == History == Clipper Navigation Inc. was founded in 1986 with the original ''Victoria Clipper'' on the Seattle/Victoria route. The ''Victoria Clipper II'' was actually two different boats that ran to the San Juan Islands. Both boats were sold and the ''Victoria Clipper III'' was purchased. The service between Seattle and Friday Harbor provides orca and gray whale watching out of that port and has been in operation since 1991 daily from mid-May through September. As Clipper Navigation grew, it launched Clipper Vacations. Clipper Vacations provides hotel and tour packages, not just in Victoria, but also in Seattle, Vancouver, Friday Harbor, Portland, Oregon, Whistler, British Columbia, the Canadian Rockies, Kelowna, and many spas and fishing resorts on Vancouver Island. The ''Victoria Clipper IV'', with a LOA of and a beam of , was added to the fleet in the mid-1990s and holds approximately 324 passengers. While the ''Clipper IV'' is capable of reaching an overall faster top speed, both vessels cruise at between Seattle and Victoria. The ''Clipper IV'' is also one of the fastest passenger vessels in the western hemisphere.〔List_of_HSC_ferry_routes#Americas List of High Speed Ferry Routes, Americas〕〔(Victoria Clipper Ferry | Ferry to Victoria BC | San Juan Islands Ferry ). Clippervacations.com. Retrieved on 2013-07-12.〕 The Clipper fleet currently consists of three high speed catamarans, the ''Victoria Clipper I'', ''Victoria Clipper III'', and ''Victoria Clipper IV'', that serve Seattle, Victoria, and Friday Harbor. Clipper Navigation was also responsible for operating the ''Princess Marguerite III'', a car ferry between Seattle and Victoria. Its operation was discontinued a decade ago due to the extremely high costs associated with the six hour trip between ports. Currently, there is no car service between Seattle and Victoria. The primary choice for passengers with cars is either the ''Coho'' ferry out of Port Angeles or the Washington State Ferry from Anacortes, Washington to Sidney, British Columbia about 30 minutes from Victoria. Clipper Vacations can book passengers who wish to take the ''Coho'' in conjunction with a hotel stay. Between 2005 and 2006, Clipper Navigation also operated the ''Mosquito Fleet'' out of Everett, Washington. This boat was the primary whale watching service in Friday Harbor. Its operation was ceased at the end of 2006, however. Gray and orca whale watching is still available with the ''Victoria Clipper'' out of Seattle. The ''Victoria Clipper IV'' was stolen on December 1, 2013 from its dock in Seattle by a sex offender who removed a GPS monitoring device from his ankle and climbed the fence around the dock area, then came aboard and drove the boat away, ripping a cleat from the moor. The boat was adrift in ferry lanes during a 2 hour standoff with police, after which the suspect was arrested and subsequently charged with several crimes, that were “not only a public spectacle, but were spectacularly reckless and deadly perilous,” according to the prosecutor. The first person to notice the boat was missing was Darrell Bryan, President and CEO of Clipper Navigation. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Clipper Navigation」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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