Normally ferries crash into at least one object on their journey between Picton and Wellington. This time things were different.

In what will be remembered as an almost unprecedented event in this nation’s history, a ferry has crossed the Cook Strait without crashing into anything.

Ferries routinely crash into at least one thing while travelling between Picton and Wellington.

Famously, the Aratere wheeled into the walls of the Picton Harbour in June, in an act reminiscent of a drunk falling into the Bucket Fountain at 2am.

But the longest-serving Interislander ferry doesn’t just shunt into waterside shrubberies after its crew mistakenly pushes the self-destruct button.

It also strikes fishing vessels and docks, and once came within 80 metres of grounding itself in the Tory Channel. 

Other ferries crash in less dramatic, but nevertheless humiliating ways.

Bluebridge ferry The Connemara hit a wharf earlier today on arrival in Picton.

It also hit a wharf in Wellington in November last year. 

Though commentators were quick to note this was not the ideal way to dock, the Interislander ferry Kaiārahi almost immediately opted to replicate it and also hit a wharf.

When our ferries aren’t bumping into rocks, other boats, wharfs, or cliff faces, they generally spend their time losing power and drifting languidly for hours as their crew awaits rescue.

There are few available records of ferries crossing the Cook Strait successfully.

However, in a statement provided to The Spinoff, the Interislander has insisted that in the last 24 hours its largest vessel made that journey without crashing, going adrift, or injuring anyone with tumbling cargo.

“Kaitaki arrived in Wellington on Monday evening,” says its executive general Manager Duncan Roy. “Once the vessel cleared customs, there was a crew change and the ship is now being cleaned, prepared, refuelled and recertified for the carriage of passengers ahead of going back on the run this Sunday, 13 October.”

But the good news doesn’t stop there.

Roy says the Aratere and Kaiārahi have also crossed the Strait today without hitting a rock or other object.

Bluebridge will also have an opportunity to travel between the North and South Islands without hitting anything during its next sailing at 2am.

Fingers crossed, but going by recent history, its chances are slim.