Why Don´t Tall Ships Sail ?

[Dominic]

Sailing 6 days a week in the Canaries this winter I have seen many Tall Ships. The STA ships, such as Lord Nelson, the Dutch schooners Antigua, Caterina and Noorderlicht. A giant Russian beast and other glorious tall ships.

They all motor, I have never seen them sailing.

Do they only put the sails up when taking photos for the brochure ?

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1>Edited by Dominic on 28/01/2003 23:43 (server time).</FONT></P>

 

[extravert]

I have enough difficulty finding 5 crew who know which end of a rope to hold to sail on my boat. So it must be really difficulty for that Russian whopper to get the required 500 crew who know what all those ropes are called and what they do. Maybe that's why.

 

[MADFISH]

They have the windward ability of a Church.

 

[snowleopard]

Lord Nelson

(incidentally it's Jubilee Sailing Trust, for the disabled, not STA which is for kids)

Typically she sails about 50% of the time for 2 good reasons:

She goes to windward like a brick, as to all traditional square riggers

She has to keep strictly to a schedule so as to pick up the next crew. For this reason she only sails in company in Tall Ships Races as she has to be free to motor to get to the destination on time.

Another reason that you'll ofted see the big boats motoring is that the Canaries have wind patterns that don't suit them. Light airs are bad news, especially accompanied by currents and tackling the acceleration zones with a weak crew isn't easy.

Depends where you see them, you would probably find that they sail much more on some passages like Lanzarote to Gran Canaria.

 

[ccscott49]

That reminds me of an interview with an aussie racing driver, about the new Holden racing saloo, he said "it has the aerodynamics of a block of flats and handles like a dog on lino". Tickled me anyway! But I agree with your comments.

 

[steve_cronin]

Saw the Kruzenshtern in Pompey once

Then she needed min of 174 crew but what a sight sailing down the Solent in company with the Polish STS "Dar Pomorza". They were maintained regardless of cost in those days.

Steve Cronin

 

[Guest]

Last year I saw the Sedov and another Ukainian ship with every stich of cloth up. Both were well offshore. The Sedov was in the Western Approaches, and the Ukrainian (sorry my ciryllic alphabet isn't too good!) was just about to run the gauntlet of the Dover Straits TSS.

 

[Sybarite]

I have frequently seen the Belem, France's only tall ship, with full sails up before she is out of Lorient harbour.

John