references to primary sources . please improve this by adding secondary or tertiary sources . september 2008 learn how and when to remove this template message clipper vacations victoria clipper i in seattle type private founded 1986 headquarters seattle washington united states parent f rde reederei seetouristik website http www.clippervacations.com clipper navigation inc. is a subsidiary of f rde reederei seetouristik 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 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 . contents 1 history 2 amtrak service 3 references 4 external links history edit 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 . citation needed 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 . victoria clipper iv in victoria bc the victoria clipper iv with a loa of 132 feet 40 m and a beam of 33.3 feet 10.1 m 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 30 knots 56 km h ; 35 mph between seattle and victoria . the clipper iv is also one of the fastest passenger vessels in the western hemisphere . 1 2 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 . citation needed 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 . citation needed 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 132 ft 40 m 480 t 470 long tons ; 530 short tons 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 . 3 4 in 2016 clipper navigation was acquired by f rde reederei seetouristik frs of flensburg germany . 5 frs announced plans to expand the company s service to include routes between victoria and vancouver and between florida and cuba . amtrak service edit the victoria clipper ferry provides amtrak thruway motorcoach service between seattle washington and victoria bc . references edit 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 . komo tv december 2 2013 police nab suspect aboard drifting victoria clipper seattle p i pulkkinen levi december 4 2013 prosecutors flasher who stole victoria clipper says he s a pirate seattle p i tu janet i. january 19 2016 seattle based clipper sold to german company ; new routes planned seattle times external links edit official home page retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title clipper navigation & oldid 729873116 categories ferries of washington state ferries of british columbiatransport in victoria british columbiawater transport in seattleprivately held companies based in washington state hidden categories articles lacking reliable references from september 2008all articles lacking reliable referencesall articles with unsourced statementsarticles with unsourced statements from december 2013 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 15 july 2016 at 04 35 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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