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EX DIAMOND FLAMINGO (3 CS Bn REME)
The team assembled in barracks on the 10 Jul 09 ready for the trip to Kiel and for any last minute changes to the nominal role. After a quick five hour drive, we arrived in Kiel ready to take over the yacht. Excitement turned to horror as we parked up and the Flamingo was not in her regular mooring. Calmness returned when we turned the corner and there she was in all her beauty alongside the slip after some minor repairs. We got straight on with collecting stores and victualling the yacht. Our skipper, Mr Nigel Parry, carried out the necessary briefings and after all stores & equipment had been correctly stowed, it was time to salute the sunset. We slipped BKYC at about 0900hrs and set off for the Danish town of Rudkolbing. With a good sea and favourable winds we made good progress. About 30 minutes after passing the Kiel Light, we were given a rare opportunity, the chance to see both Germany and Marstal (Denmark) at the same time. We arrived as planned with some members of the crew looking slightly worse for wear. The town was relatively quiet but with most the team being tired that was ok. The next day saw us up early facing still airs. We slipped for the island of Sejerby which was about 80 NM to the North. We got into the small port of Sejero quite late and by the time the boat was put to bed to the Skippers high standards, it was time for us to retire after a good meal.
On the morning of the 13th we slipped for Helsingor in full waterproofs, heading straight into a Force 5. As we left the shelter of the harbour, the crew received its first opportunity to reef the mainsail and change headsails in adverse conditions. Once clear of the buoys, we were able to come off the wind and head northwards to clear the top of the island. Once we cleared the island, we were able to increase sail cloth as the wind was behind us. We arrived in Helsingor early evening and had to raft up three deep due to the marina being full. Some members of the crew set to explore the castle, which was featured in Shakespeare’s play “Hamlet”, and the local hospitality. After an early reveille we sailed into Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark. We arrived shortly after lunch. This enabled the crew to de-gunge the Flamingo and to swab the decks and still have time to explore the cities sights. We had some well earned rest and some of the crew had a young Columbian lady squire them about town after a few hot wets in the galley.
After an excellent run ashore in Copenhagen, the crew set sail on what was to be the first of many emotional overnight legs with 34hrs of wind-free sailing. The crew was broken down into a 3 watch shift system, deck watch, mother watch and off watch. We arrived in Kalmar early afternoon on the 16th and with some quality seamanship by the Skipper; we were soon alongside a Danish yacht. Budgie and Google decided to assist two young Swedish ladies to come alongside a different pontoon by swimming across the harbour entrance to the delights of the neighbouring yachts.
We slipped for Stockholm at about 0900 hrs and yet again we were to be cursed with light winds and a tight schedule so we ended up spending the next 180NM under motor power. We got settled into watches as it was to be a long trip up to the Swedish archipelago. During the night the sun would set at 2330 hrs and would have risen again by 0400hrs but it would never actually get fully dark which made the night watch much easier. We reached the entrance to the archipelago without disaster and now the only danger was navigating through the many small islands with so many pleasure boats oblivious to the “rules of the road” and was chased by the cruise ships that were making their way into Stockholm via the main channel. We arrived in Stockholm at 1900hrs tired but ready to explore the Swedish capital. We remained in port the following day, with members of the crew visiting the Tivoli funfair, the military museum, the boat museum, and sight seeing around town in between a beer or two.
We slipped Stockholm at 0500 in the end and proceeded back along the archipelego channel once again being chased by cruise ships. We soon got settled down and made best course for Mariehamm, our first port of call in Finland. We were fortunate to have the luxury of a good wind all the way so we were able to leave the engine off. We finally found a space in the very crowded marina and proceeded to put the boat to bed. Some of the crew set off to explore the local town but came back early as all was very quiet. To confuse matters the Finnish time is 2 hours ahead of BST.
The day started overcast, with drizzle. We slipped at 0500 hours and got straight into the usual shifts. Due to the light winds we have to carry out motor-sailing again. The navigation was made more “interesting” by the reduced visibility, the Finnish buoyage system and the many small islands and rocks barely visible above the surface. We followed the 3m channel in order to stay away from the ferries running between Finland and Sweden with some parts of the channel being not much wider than our actual yacht. At 2000hrs we rounded the final bends of the AurajokiRiver into Turku; the river was lined with Tall Ships of every possible size dressed from bow to stern with their signal flags. As we came alongside the British registered “Maybe”, we were met by our Liaison Officer, Henry. As new vessels arrived, the ones alongside would sound their horn to welcome them in. Welcome to the Tall Ships Races.
The Friday started with the Sail Training International (STI) administration and getting FLAMINGO back up to her usual pristine condition. Whilst a couple of us filled in the registration and inspection paperwork, the remainder of the crew attended the opening ceremony. At the end of the ceremony all vessels present sound their foghorns; the noise was incredible up and down the river. That evening, the Skipper and the First Mate attended the Captains dinner in the Castle whilst the rest of the crew happily accepted an invitation to socialise with the Polish yacht “Sharki” in fancy dress. Saturday saw members of the crew take part in the inter boat rowing competition, but we were knocked out by a Swedish crew, in the first race. Meanwhile, the Flamingo was receiving her final touches prior to being inspected by the STI team. In the afternoon, we took part in a very wet Crew Parade, which took a 4km route through town and finished at the prize giving in the centre of town. The rain only managed to slightly dampen the spirit of the parade. The new crew arrived in the evening and both crews joined in the Tall Ships Crew Party. With the hand over/ take over completed by lunch time, we bade farewell to the off going crew and started victualling the yacht in preparation for a five day passage, stowing personal kit.
At long last after four days in port, we were instructed to slip our berth and follow the Norwegian 3 master, Christian Radich, out to the parade of sail. The well wishers were lining the river banks in their thousands all the way out and the channel was full of sailing vessels of every size and shape. The actual parade of sail was about 3NM in length, but the spectator boats carried on long after it finished. We had a 60NM leg to get to the island of Uto, which is the most southern island belonging to Finland. We rafted up at 2200hrs in a 10 boat deep raft for the night, with the start line about an hour away in the morning.
After an early start on the Monday, we set sail for the start area. At 0945 hrs the gun fired and we were off. We got straight into the watches again as there would be no stopping until the end of the race in Klaipeda. The first days went without too much excitement; we had a steady wind from the SW. After the start with over one hundred vessels in sight, 24 hrs later we had four yachts nearby. The class A vessels had been left behind due to not being able to sail so close to the wind. During the second night, we were hit by a F6 squall. It was all hands to the deck to get sails reefed and changed. The excitement lasted for about an hour, and then eased off so it was time to shake out the reefs and get sailing again.
The final straight and we could see other boats starting to come together for the finish line. The wind was slowly easing off, but Flamingo kept on going, closing on the other yachts. Disaster struck; at about 0930 hrs the wind veered and died off totally leaving us becalmed with the rest of the fleet. We had stopped 5 NM from the finish! Some of the lighter yachts were able to still make headway especially if they had taken a more westerly course during the night. We took the opportunity to prepare the yacht for arrival in the Klaipeda, by scrubbing the decks and polishing brasses. We hurried up and waited until the race closed at 1330hrs. We found out that STI would calculate from our position and average speed where we would have come in the race if all had gone well. We could now drop the sails and motor in to port, but instead disaster struck again and bad equipment would plague us once again. The engine would not start due to the batteries no longer wanting to hold their charge. We carried out some hasty repairs but to no avail, there was not enough power to turn the engine over or to keep the radio working. Luckily enough we were close enough to land for me to pick up a signal on my mobile phone and I was able to contact Peter Newell, the STI Race Director and ask for assistance. This came in the shape of the Eendracht, a Dutch three masted schooner. As we prepared the Flamingo for the embarrassment of being towed into harbour, the Eendracht steamed to the rescue. It wasn’t long and we were behind the Eendracht on the way to Klaipeda. As we came into the port the Captain of the Eendracht secured us to his port side and then proceeded to bring his own ship alongside. We expected to have an evening of darkness with no power, but were denied this was when we were invited by the Captain to use his ships ablutions, to join him and his crew at the Captains dinner, and most of all to enjoy a chilled beer with them. What a way to end an eventful day. This was not the last we would see of the Eendracht as they said we were now part of their team.
The port festivities started warming up with the opening ceremony; inter vessel sports where we took part in the beach volley ball and the orienteering. We spent much of the first day carrying out maintenance to our own yacht and also to the Osprey, another BKYC yacht. We had a prime location this time, moored alongside the wall with no one on the outside of us so the Flamingo was able to shine in all her glory thanks to the crew keeping on top of her. During the crew parade, the crew of the Eendracht made a human chain to “tow” us up to them. By the end of the weekend we had been visited by most of their crew, curious about the comforts on a 1935 yacht. This was the first time that the TSR had visited Lithuania, and the City of Klaipeda was determined to make it special. The Captains dinner was held in the castle ruins and yet again the remainder of the crew was invited to join various other crews for smaller social events. We spent the afternoon of the 1st preparing the yacht for the handover to the new crew, which arrived on the 2000hrs ferry from Kiel. This was to be a quick handover as the departing crew had to be at the ferry terminal for 2200hrs. Those of us remaining and the new crew headed off to the crew party and to watch the fireworks. The next day was spent with the new crew familiarising themselves with the yacht and victualling in preparation for the return trip.
We were once again directed to slip and head off to the holding area for the Parade of Sail. This time we were to be in the last packet of vessels to set off so did not actually start the parade until 1430hrs. The banks were lined by well wishers coming to watch the fleet leave the lagoon. As we passed the saluting vessel, the Lithuanian Naval Force vessel Jotvingis, we dipped our colours and made best speed for the island of Borholm. Unfortunately we had to go around the Russian waters; this was due to lack of political clearance, which other vessels had. We re-started the watch system as it would take us until the early hours of the 5th to enter the port of Ronne. The day was spent exploring the small town and surrounding area. With near mutiny due to the cancelled BBQ, we all set off to find the local pizza joint for food and beer.
We slipped for Sassnitz, a former Red Banner Baltic Fleet harbour on the island of Ruegen. This was the first time in 28 days, 5 countries and 10 different ports we had our passports checked by customs. After a quiet night, we set off for Wiek. We contacted the harbour master to find out if they still had a mooring for us, and were pleasantly surprised when we got there and he was ready to show us to our wall side mooring. From this point on we decided that we would have to call up in advance to confirm a mooring.
Our next port of call was Warnemuende, where we met up with many of the Class A vessels again, this time they were taking part in the Hanse Sail, one of the German tall ships meetings. The marina facility was very modern with a 5* hotel and spa attached. A good time was had by all in this thriving town with some crew members even finding temporary accommodation on the cross river ferry. The next day we had a late start as it was to be a short hop to Kuhlungsborn after watching the tall ships set sail. This proved to be another pristine facility, with very helpful harbour staff that showed us to a reserved mooring but yet another spa resort. The following day we slipped for Heiligenhafen, a spa town in Holstein which is used as a base for yacht charter firms. The Tuesday was Cfn Jenkinson’s birthday, so after a successful slip we handed the control of the yacht over to him while we finished off making his surprise cake. After some interesting techniques, he got us sailing towards Laboe where we would moor up for the night.
We slipped for the last time, to take the short hop down the Kieler Fjorde to the Club jetty. Now we had the hardest part of the trip, to clean Flamingo and put her back to her pristine condition. During the trip we covered approximately 1380NM (2500km), visited 18 different ports in 5 different countries, and came 16th in class and 36th overall in the Baltic Tall Ships Race 2009.
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