The first ferry from Sheppey to Southend for nearly a generation has been hailed a success.

Nearly 150 passengers climbed aboard Jetstream’s Jacob Marley catamaran on Monday for two sell-out 40-minute trips across the Thames Estuary to the end of the world’s longest pleasure pier.

Organiser Dave Wilcock said: “The day was superb. We had excellent weather. Now we have to work out where we go to next.

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“If it is down to me I’d like to turn these trips into a regular service.

“We have proved there is a demand. Both sailings from Sheppey sold out within hours of the tickets going on sale.”

Richard Bain, managing director of Rochester-based Jetstream Tours and the skipper of the catamaran, said: “I’d say the bank holiday pilot was pretty successful.

“There were definitely more Islanders wanting to visit Southend than the other way around but that is nothing a bit of extra publicity couldn’t fix.”

“We had been working on this for three months but everything only came together at the last minute. We had a lot of risk assessments to get through.”

The sticking point was the Queenborough Harbour Trust which doesn’t normally allow public access to its all-tide landing. Agreement was reached with its insurers at the 11th hour on Friday.

Geof Reed, the trust’s director of operations, said a lot of complex work had to be done to get the operation off the ground.

“We will study Monday’s results of the one-off experiment to see if a service like this could be viable in the future,” he said.

As part of the safety precautions only groups of 12 passengers were allowed onto the landing stage at a time. But at the end of the boat ride they encountered an even greater challenge.

The pier’s gangplank was steep and slippery. Among those having difficulties was Islander Matt Bromley who has one leg. He convinced organisers he could cope.

But he admitted: “Landing at Southend was tough. I had to hop up the gangplank with help from the crew and friends.”

He joked: “I think for a moment I lost my sea legs.”

He said later: “Sheppey could learn a lot from Southend. Sheerness has lost its seasidedness. Southend is a great example of what we need on the Island.

“We have no main attraction and nowhere on Sheerness beach to buy silly hats, buckets and spades, Sheppey rock or souvenirs. There isn’t even a restaurant with a sea view.

“Even in town you have to hunt to find a stick of Sheppey rock or a postcard and I don’t think there are any souvenir tea-towels. We have lessons to learn.”

Certainly Southenders weren’t sure what they were letting themselves in for. Pensioner Andy Morrison said he was going along for the “joy ride”

Asked what he knew of Sheppey he admitted: “Nothing. It’s an Island. That’s all I know.”

Monica Barry, 76, was returning to her roots after leaving Sheppey at the age of four. She said: “I’m going back to see my old house.”

One couple on pushbikes said after their visit: “We had no idea what Sheppey was like but we really enjoyed it. We cycled to Sheerness. It wasn’t as busy as Southend but that’s what we liked. And no one swore at us for being cyclists. We get that all the time in Southend.”