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Greetings from Falmouth, UK
 We
arrived here yesterday after a night of SW'erly gale winds. We arrived dockside
about 1100 local time (1000 UTC) and commenced a major cleanup of the below deck
areas, as well as got the laundry dispatched and the cook ashore for groceries.
Meanwhile I gave chase to refueling while the Guest Crew went about determining
whether they would depart the ship immediately or the following day. By day's
end at 1900 hours, the below decks were cleaned except for the galley. The food
was aboard and the laundry returned. The Guest Crew had departed as well. Fuel
was arranged for delivery the next morning and I had determined that we would
not depart until one new Guest Crew arrived soon after 1500 hours the next day.
It was time to dismiss the crew! They had certainly earned it.
Today
has been a "comedy" of shore/ship interactions. The cook did not wake up to
prepare breakfast due to a hard night ashore that left her feeling a bit under
the weather. While the second mate and others jumped-to making breakfast in
preparation of moving the ship to where the fueling would occur, I provided a
limited amount of relief by delaying the time to be ready by 30 minutes, or
until 0830. However, the fuel arrived at 0800 and we needed to move the ship
ASAP. Once moved, the fuel truck driver said he would not pump the fuel until
he had cash in hand. I was not prepared to do this with British Currency
because there was a good chance we could arrange billing, and I had not
exchanged enough money to purchase any fuel. Not even the Tall Ship Committee
of Falmouth could persuade the Falmouth Oil Service to provide direct billing to
PRIDE II's office. But the fuel truck driver said "No worries, I will wait."
So off the cook went to change money at the Post Office, where they do not
charge a service fee. Almost an hour later, with cash delivered, the fueling
began. No stress and no fuss.
Transatlantic Crossing Stats
 Overall,
the crossing from Lunenburg was accomplished at a rate of 208 miles a day for an
hour or two less than 13 days. The total miles sailed were 2,707, in contrast
to the calculated miles of between 2,300 and 2,400 requiring 177 and 185 miles
per day respectively. When we add the days in transit to Lunenburg from
Annapolis, we have been underway for a total of 17.5 days. Which, interestingly
for me, is the same number of days each of the east bound Atlantic crossings
have been regardless of actual distance sailed or time of the year, including
the Tall Ship Race in 2000 from Halifax to Isle of Wight during July and August.
In 1990 PRIDE II made a non-stop crossing from
Baltimore, Maryland to Baltimore, Ireland (between sailing and motor-sailing) in
just less than 18 days. In 1996 she did the crossing in the same 17-18
"underway" days. The difference with the 1996 crossing was that PRIDE II sailed
an extra 1,000 miles because weather forced us to go by Bermuda-where we stopped
for 18 hours while we topped up fuel and waited for the next favorable wind-and
the Azores. We stopped there for 36 hours because I thought the Azorean
Atlantic High was going to stall for some time, and I felt waiting in the Azores
would be better than drifting around the Atlantic. But the high did not stall
and we had to take off again after only a short stay. In 2000, the Tall Ship
Race was finished in just over 17 days and included at least a day and a half of
dead calm winds.
Since PRIDE II has been crossing the Atlantic and the
Pacific oceans, she has been scheduled at a rate of 130 miles progress per day
on "nearly direct mileage," Instead she has turned in not less than 160 miles
per day actually sailed, as calculated from total miles actually sailed. So,
when we left Lunenburg after consuming four and a half days of our built-in
margin, we had to make 160 miles per day advance along the most direct route
just to have a chance to make our dates in Copenhagen. While PRIDE II sailed
more miles than we calculated, she sailed them fast enough to make the crossing
in 13 days. This performance has the effect of reducing our miles per day to
Copenhagen from Falmouth to about 121 per day. Unless a very major contrary
weather system appears again, I think we are in pretty "normal" shape for
arriving Copenhagen in a timely manner. Since there is not much "grace time"
for this run (for coastal routes such as this one to Copenhagen we usually use
110 miles advance per day), PRIDE II will look rather "uncared for" in
Copenhagen because of the loss of paint and general cosmetic wear and tear that
is the norm with any major weather intensive ocean crossing. Oh well. As a
treat to Denmark, we will demonstrate our care for the ship while at the same
time we show off "our Pride" by doing maintenance at the same time as the Danish
have their festival. With any luck, PRIDE II will be back to her usual pristine
good looks by the time she arrives Portsmouth, England, for the bi-centennial of
Lord Nelson's death and victory at the Battle of Trafalgar.
Falmouth Tall Ships Association
Our turn around in Falmouth was made as stress-free as
it was (baring anything concerning the ship's crew) by the actions of the
Falmouth Tall Ships Association (FTSA). The key person in this for PRIDE II was
Mike Reynolds. Mike helped the office respond to my questions and listed needs
to affect a "fast" turn around. Once we got here, others played a role.
Without the FTSA's guidance and knowledge, this turn around would have been much
harder to "line up" for the office and would probably have required a great deal
of my personal attention, rather than the limited and focused amount that I
actually attended to.
While
this first experience in Europe for the crew was a very short one indeed, it
served them well. They now have an acute appreciation for the differences in
architecture, food, accents and the cost of things with the current U.S. Dollar
exchange rate.
About Falmouth, UK
 Falmouth is a very well protected harbor with a very
long history in Royal Navel affairs. It is here that all returning vessels of
the Royal Navy would come to dispatch reports of activities or to get orders
before heading off to execute them. There is a significant shipyard facility in
the Falmouth with four graving docks. Yet, the town does not seem industrial at
all, particularly with the highly visible and widespread moorland all around
us. Yachting activity is quite visible here with many moored craft, and
Falmouth is the home of the only surviving "under sail only" fishery-the oyster
cutter fleet. Every year the oyster cutters get together for regular racing
meets and are quite the sight when they do. Sadly we are visiting too early in
the season to see any oyster cutter races. I am told that when other tallships
visit Falmouth, particularly the Russian tallships, KRUZENSTERN, SEDOV and MIR,
the town makes oyster racing a specialty, along with rowing competitions of the
6 oar rowing gigs that originate from the pilot services and pirate activities
of the Scilly Men of the Isles of Scilly. So, PRIDE II should make an effort to
pay a lengthier visit here in the future.
Cheers,
Captain Miles |
