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Festival of the Sea
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We are still a part of the 200 year celebration of the
birth of Denmarkâs icon story teller, Hans Christian Andersen. This celebration
started in Copenhagen and has continued in the second biggest city in Denmark,
Odense, the birth place and home of H.C.Andersen. It is the last day of this
Festival. Weather has been abnormally cool for this time of the year, according
to the locals. Fortunately, the rain has been only sporadic and mostly at
night. We actually have had quite a bit of sun, but no real warmth. Tonight,
for their last performance, all ships will parade out. Fortunately for PRIDE
II, the weather appears to be going towards light winds from a favorable
direction for the next leg to Gšteburg, Sweden, 150 miles away toward the north
east. We are not due till Tuesday morning/mid-day, so we have some time to use
the weather under sail rather than fight it in an effort to arrive on time. But
it looks like more rain. Depending on the weather reports given tonight, we may
be able to spend the night at anchor before heading off tomorrow for Gšteburg.
Having a chance to anchor will be good, if we can afford the time, to provide a
full nightâs comfortable rest before heading off on an overnight sail to Sweden.
Maybe, just maybe, the rain will pass on by before we must set off.
Meanwhile, I decided to give the crew two days time off
while we have been in Odense. The weather outlook, as we made our approach to
Odense, appeared a bit conditional for heavy maintenance during our expected
time in port. Plus the late evening sail to Helsingor from Copenhagen at the
end of a full day of open ship last Sunday, followed by being open to the public
the next day before sailing again that evening into the teeth of a developing
northerly gale, making for a rough night of sailing westward toward Odense,
really took the last reserves of the crew right out of them. So, to hell with
cosmetic maintenance, I say! The crew have more than earned a bit of time off.
Now is the time to provide it and fortunately the schedule in Odense provided
the opportunity to give it. Today everyone is back ãon dutyä after their two
days off in a row by watch rotation. They have the appearance and attitude of
being fully recovered.
 
However, instead of major maintenance for today, many of the crew has been
dispatched to a friendly inter-ship competition with the other attending
vesselâs crews in tug-of-war and multi-oar vessel rowing competitions. These
crew competitions have been designed by the Russian tall ship SHTANDART (www.shtandart.com)
from St. Petersburg. But
the competitions include the crews of vessels from England (EARL OF PEMBROKE,
www.square-sail.com), Germany (KIELER HANSEKOGGE,
www.hansekogge.de),
Denmark (NIDHUG,
www.maritimtforsoegscenter.dk) and Sweden (HIORTEN,
www.marinmuseum.se). It seemed to me we would be seen as churlish if we did
not participate because of my interest in getting some maintenance done. My
decision was made easier by the weather report last night promising scattered
rain. Still, we must continue to man the vessel for open house, so it is not
all play for today.
Gale out of Helsingor
The northerly gale last Monday evening after departing
Helsingor was predicted to come in late and go to as much as 30 knots. This it
did. Sadly, I was not in my normal planning and preparation frame of mind. If
I had been, we would have departed Helsingor closer to 1600 rather than 1900.
Had we departed earlier, we might not have had to motor our way for two hours
into 30 knots of wind and the short and steep Baltic Sea associated with the
onset of the gale. An earlier departure would have meant leaving some public
standing on the dock because the open ship schedule advertised we would be open
till 2000 hours. As it was, rain came in and the public disappeared and we took
off at 1900. But we had to battle for two hours into rising seas with a ship
that was not prepared as well as it could have been to force its way against
such wind and sea.
I had made the second mistake of having some sail untied in
the idiotic thought that we could demonstrate some sailing as we left (this in
responds to the request to ãsee some sailä). But the port of Helsingor is small
and sailing out was out of the question. As soon as we got out of the harbor,
the wind was smack on the bow, but only at 10 knots. I deluded myself further
thinking we would be using the sail when we got north enough to get around the
point of land north of Helsingor, only 10 miles away, and we would then head off
the wind to the west. So, when the wind intensified before we made the
ãcorner,ä we had our hands full dealing with loosely stowed sail and large steep
seas that the head rig was beginning to slice through as PRIDE II heaved in
them. I was none too happy with myself as I asked the crew to battle with the
sails while I observed the head-rig going under the waves once in a while, along
with the jib-topsail, which we would normally have taken in and stowed on deck
for conditions like this; and the jib, which we would normally trice up for
conditions like this to reduce the drag of the head-rig when it dips into a sea,
as well as to protect the sails from the violence of the seas going over the
head-rig.
The crew managed well, but almost half got sea-sick. Even
when we rounded the corner and struggled to set the foresail and the staysail,
as well as stow the foretopsail in 30 knots of wind and a steep short sea on the
beam; we were left with a rough ride to the west. Moderation of wind strength
began around 0200 in the morning, but remained around 25 knots till 0500 before
moderating further. At breakfast time, and because we were so far ahead of
schedule with the fast sail westward, I decided to anchor in the lee of the
island of Samso, which left us close to our destination. We spent the next six
hours napping and resting from our ordeal. My apologies to all hands for the
lack of proper preparation in Helsingor prior to the sail to Odense.
Odense, Denmark
 We napped till 1600 and sailed away southwards Tuesday with
only the square-topsail set in a dying northerly towards the entrance to the
harbor of Odense. The crew meanwhile turned-to on deck and cleaned the ship as
Dutch electrical power windmills passed by. With the dying wind came
confirmation by weather report that we would be experiencing relatively clear,
dry and warmer weather for the next couple of days. So much for my analysis of
ãquestionableä weather for maintenance during our stay in Odense! Oh well. The
crew had surely earned the time off anyway. So, after transiting the narrow
channel into Odense and once PRIDE II was dockside Tuesday evening around 2100,
it remained to prepare the ship for Festival activities and then dismiss them
into watches, with one assigned time-off for 48 hours while the other waited for
their turn to have 48 hours off.
 Marine weather projections here in Europe are not made much
beyond 24-36 hours. Land weather forecasts can sometimes look forward 5 days,
but is mostly concerned with rain. Even with the short look forward, the
accuracy is surprisingly hit or miss. Whatever the accuracy, I have observed
that since we have been in Danish waters, we have seen a gale of wind every 3-4
days. Except for the time we anchored outside of Marstal and sailed across to
Odense, we have been protected from any other gales because we were docked in
port. Tonight we depart as a show for the public and make our way either out to
the Baltic Sea to get on with our passage to Gšteburg, or we go to anchor and
get a nights rest before proceeding on our way. I am leaning towards more rest,
if possible, especially for the inter-vessel competitors. PRIDE IIâs crew has
just come back from tug-of-war with a third, but they are exhausted! So much
for the time off provided in Odense.
 We have re-met some old friends from PRIDE IIâs European
travels in 1991. The Russian vessel SHTANDART is captained by her builder
Vladimir who met the 1991 crew and took some with him ãin countryä to see a
vessel he was building. We also re-met Misha, who has been to the States to
learn boat building from Lance Lee at the Rockland BoatShop in Maine. Misha
took a small ãholidayä from the SHTANDART, where he was holidaying from computer
installation projects in Moscow to sail with us from Helsingor to Odense. While
on board he was able to make repairs to Chausser, PRIDE IIâs deck boat that had
received some damage during the Atlantic crossing. How interesting it is to go
so many years and re-connect with folks. Back then, Russia was still Soviet.
Vladimirâs escorting of crew to the ãhinterlandä was technically against the
rules for westerners. But no one who saw the Americans on the train complained
so nothing developed. It is nice to see how things have developed for our old
friends.
Cheers,
Captain Miles |
