Runö in Pärnu, 18 June 2018

As it happens, I am currently in Pärnu, Estonia for a little vacation with the family. My original hope was that there should be some ferry photography while here, particularly of the local Estonian double-ended ferries, but unfortunately our schedules and those of the ships did not match, and the only local ferry I actually did have a chance of photograph is the little fast ferry Runö. So that's the one we're looking at today.

Runö

IMO 9643336
Built 2012, Baltic Workboats Nasva, Estonia
Tonnage 169 GT
Length 23,90 m
Width 22,80 m
Draugth 1,48 m
60 passengers
2 cars
2 Volvo Penta diesels, combined 1 102 kW
2 propellers
Maximum speed 25 knots

The Runö is one in the current generation of Estonian local ferries, produced during the previous decade or so at local shipyards - in this particular case, Baltic Workboats at Nasva on the island of Saaremaa. The Runö (the Swedish-language name for the island of Ruhnu in Estonia - the Estonian islands had a relatively large Swedish-speaking population until World War II) was contracted in 2010 and delivered in May 2012 to Kihnu Veeteed. The little fast craft is used on routes connecting Ringsu (on Ruhnu) to Roomassaare on Saaremaa and Pärnu on the Estonian mainland.

The photos below show the Runö on the Pärnu river on 18 June 2018, shortly after departing Pärnu for a crossing to Ruhnu. As per the usual, click on the images to see them in larger size.

Yes, this is a very small ship.

Alas, the lighting is not ideal - the best location, at least for this time of the day, would have been the jetties of the local sailing club. They were open, but based on previous experiences with sailing clubs I decided not to risk being chased off in the middle of a photography session.

I do like Kihnu Veeteed's way of incorporating local knitting patterns in the liveries of the ships (which actually work better here than on the big double-enders).

And off it goes!

Kships will return. I have a few sets of local ferry photos waiting for editing and publication, so unless I take some really interesting photos in the interim, next week's entry will likely be either the Viking Grace with its new flettner rotor, or the Megastar.