A Tenacious Voyage to Antwerp

In common with the other tall ships travelling to Antwerp after completing the Historical Seas Tall Ships Regatta that finished in Lavrion, Greece, Tenacious suffered greatly from a lack of wind. Here Mac Price the watchleader reports on their experiences:

äóìOne this particular voyage we do not have a full voyage crew, only 24 people, which does make for a lot of work and not too much sleep. In the voyage crew we have two wheelchairs, two voyage crew member over 80 years old, and five in their 70s, some youngsters in their middle years and five Bosun’ Mates who assist the Bosun by carrying out the repairs etc which are a never ending feature of Tall Ship sailing. Lastly, we have seven cadets, nicknamed äóìgadgetsäó. They are with us for one voyage as part of their university maritime studies degree.

The Captain tried valiantly to find winds by sailing close to shore in the hope of picking up sea or shore breezes. Even the normally reliable Atlantic winds let us down and sailing half way to the Azores in the hope of catching the Azores High Pressure System didn’t pay off.

In spite of the lack of wind, the ship enjoyed some good and interesting calls at Malta and Gibraltar. The entry into Valletta Grand Harbour must be one of the most interesting in Europe. It was taken by the Knights of St John, who built massive fortifications that tower over the harbour, and which are maintained in a very high standard of repair even today, as a major tourist attraction. It also helps when the local people are friendly and that is certainly the case in Malta.

From Malta we went North-west to follow the Southern coast of Sicily, as I mentioned earlier, in the hope of catching a land breeze. We passed the Southern tip of Sardinia and on to the Balearic Islands, sailing South of Majorca and the other Islands, but still with very little wind. Tenacious crossed to the coast of Spain. Here we turned South and followed the coast all the way down to Gibraltar. The scenery along the Spanish coast was really beautiful, with the mountains of the hinterland appearing and disappearing in the heat haze.

Gibraltar is changing very rapidly, with block after block of apartments springing up along the shore line, the only flat ground available for development. The apes, however are flourishing at the top of the rock, In spite of all the notices warning against carrying plastic bags, one young girl ignored the warning and was attacked by one ape and as she fell to the ground several other apes rapidly arrived and joined in the tug of war for possession of her plastic bag. The girl had the sense to let go and the apes made off with the bag and as they did so a plastic bottle of water fell out. Luckily, that was the only item in the bag.

It was not until we crossed the European Continental Shelf that some useful wind appeared. The ship set sail and headed for Cork in Southern Ireland. As the ship closed with the Fastnet Rock, the wind started to rise with force 7 touching 8 forecast by the Coast Guard stations. Tenacious was on a lee shore. A course was set 10 miles out to sea and the ship flew along parallel to the coast in an easterly direction. It had been arranged by radio with the Cork pilots that the ship would be off the Pilot Station at 0800. A very wet, foggy and bumpy night was experienced before the ship passed between the headlands into the sheltered river estuary. And after picking up the pilot a very pleasant trip up the river to the City of Cork followed.

Only a 24 hour break here and the crew made the most of it. I think that everybody is aware that Guinness is the national beverage of Ireland. The crew can confirm that it is a very pleasant beverage, especially when consumed in a restaurant with a good meal from a table that does not move about.

After leaving Cork we had a stiff force 6 to 7 South Westerly. Exactly the wind needed for this part of