The Great Egg Drop 2010

Following the race the trainees were presented with the Egg Drop Challenge. The brief was simple:

The challenge is to transport a raw egg from the platform on the fore mast as far back on the ship as possible without the egg breaking.

• You may use any materials aboard the ship, however you must have permission of the person responsible for them (eg: Bosun, Engineer, Cook or the Captain)

• There is a good chance that your egg may end up overboard – so ensure that you only use things you can afford to loose

• The egg and it’s protective packaging must be thrown from the platform and can not be attached to any part of the ship, or another person

• Teams should be between 5 & 7 people and as international as possible!

• Before the egg drop, each team will give a presentation about the science of their design – points will be awarded for the best presentation
(to be the best you should include all of your group and make it as funny as possible)

• Finally to win the egg must be whole and raw when it is collected from the deck (this will be tested!)

The Video below will enable you so see just what happened !

Learning how to work aloft

In this video you can see some of the Trainees being instructed how to work aloft.

12th August: White Watch Update

White watch 12-08-2010

Antonio (Italy)

 

Today it was a very hard day because we had to woke up early, we had watch at 8.00 – 12.00, so early breakfast at 07.30! There were big waves. In our watch rain a lot. With the captain end the Bulgarian crew we set all the sail. During the others watch i sleep end sleep again because I’m very tired.

 

The lunch and dinner were very good today! The dinner was a Swedish traditional meal, it was composed of potatoes end meatballs.

 

After dinner there was a Swedish presentation, we were actually on watch (18.00 – 20.00), but we were released so we could go down for Swedish presentation. The Swedish presentation was very good Carl (the mentor) and the others Swedish trainees told us a lot about their country.

 

Now (21.00) Iven and Filippo play the guitar and we sing all together. This was all for now!

 

Ci Vediamo Dopo (see you later!)

14th August: White Watch Update

Bernardas Jankauskas, Bunk 50

 

14^th of August, 00:00-04:00, 12:00-16:00

 

Finally no rain, no clouds and millions of stars around in the night sky during our night watch. Some of us sneaked into the bridge and got some sleep while others were just sitting and counting falling stars (in fact, we managed to count 62 falling stars during the whole watch). To cheer us up some of us sang their national songs. We also played a 'Horse Race' game when we were really cold. In the end we started to make up a story sentence by sentence about a sailing ship and a whale crashing into it.

During all of the time we had a lightning flashes somewhere far away, but fortunately we didn't get into that storm.

 

Our midday watch also was really calm and sunny (first time during this voyage). Weather got a bit more windy, so we managed to speed up a bit. We set the outer jib which had been ripped during yesterday's storm, and which the captain has now fixed.

Christiana and Caroline taught others knots they knew and afterwards we played a game where two people are tied together and they need to untie themselves.

 

We also had a discussion about immigrants integration and it's problems in various countries. We finally come up to a conclusion, that even if a government work to integrate immigrants to the country it will be very difficult unless the immigrants want that by themselves.

 

11th August: White Watch Blog Update

Erika, White watch, 11th of August

 

Today was very interesting day. Firstly, it was the day when our race began. But before it, the captain and all crew gave us instructions about safety on the ship. Now we all know what to do if we need to abondon the ship or if someone fall of board. We know how serious it is, but it was really funny to see Emma with big red safety jacket. By the way, today is her birthday, so we sang to her and everyone signed on a card, so she get congratulations from all of us.

            Also, my watch was the first of our watches who began our „watch systém¨. It was very interesting to help crew with rigging, pulling the ropes. I know more about Kaliakra`s sails and how to do things which crew must do. Now, when Im writing this we have our last watch and it will end at the midnight. We‘re having stormy weather, but captain and the crew are determined about changing sails and I hope we‘ll win the race! And, also we have a starry night, so stars are steering our tall ship and we’re enjoying our time on deck!

 

11th August Update

11\08\2010

Today the Tall Ship Race was began.

We leave the dock at 9:00 a.m. and we set on the start line.

For first we set all the sails all toghether and after the lunch time, at 4:00 p.m., we cut the start line and we began our travel.

We started the normaly watching turn, today I had two turn, first from 12:00 a.m. to 16:00 p.m., second from 8:00 p.m. to 12:00 p.m.

In the last one we has a good wind and the boat sailing very well.

The weater is not very good, but we were prepared.

Today is a very good first sailing day.

Filippo Maria Cosentino

 

 

12th August White Watch Blog Update

White Watch, 12-08-2010

Iven (Bulharia)

           

The day started pretty good. I woke up  at 7:30 and i went right away to breakfast. We had some ham, a boiled egg, a block of cheese, two waffles and a cup of hot tea. After the delicious meal my watch started and unfortenately i was 5 minutes late so i had to apology to the whole blue watch for being late but it was fun.

 

Our watch was supposed to be 4 hours and luckily the weathers was nice to us. The wind was not very strong which made our work easier. We did not have to raise the sails and pull the ropes every 5 minutes so we had a lot of free time. We spent it very usefully,  though. We did a little bit of a dictionary game and tought ourselves to some new words and frases in different languages . For instance i learned how to say good morning in portugish (Bom Dia), Italián (Buon Giorno) and lithuanian (Kavas Rytas)

 

And off course, since everything is happening in our watch, we also had to tack. Since the wind was not strong enough for the ship we had to stack the sails in the opposite direction so that we could move the ship faster. It was work for more than 12 people but we managed to do it alone with our own watch (White watch rules!). After our watch was over we all went inside and as for me i had 4 nice hours of sleep. Then i woke up once again and had my sweedish dinner meal which was very tasty. After the dinner we had a watch again but this one was only 2 hours. And during the watch we could go down to the mess, because of the Swedish presentation!

 

 

 

14th August White Watch Blog Update

2010-08-14

 

Daily log.

 

Today was a tough day, we had 3 watches off 4 hours. So we had to wake up at 11.30 for our first watch, it was the first time we had the watch from 12 to 4 o’clock. It’s verry weird to wake up in the middle off the night, be awake for four hours, and then to go back to bed again. We could only sleep until 8, because we were supposed to have breakfast at that time. We all arrived at the table with a sleepy head and in our pyjamas. After we ate some braed we went back to bed. It’s been a rough night because we had to wake up every few hours.

Luckily the weather had changed dramatically, the wind wasn’t that strong, we were running like 5 knots, and even the sun appeared from behind the clouds. Everybody took there wet cloths out and hung them arround the ship to dry.

 

We started to make our own sailing-videomovie. It’s on the song off the Black Eyed Peas, I got a feeling. So we sort off made the storyboard for our movie. During the day the deck was filled with people laying in the sun, listhening to some music and generally enjoying the good weather.

 

In our seccond watch we had some lessons on how to tie knots and stuff, so Christiana learned everybody how to tie an eightknot, and a reefknot, a bowline, and I can’t remember the names of the other knots. Milan and me helped her a little because we also knew the knots. We also played the integrationgame, which I missed becouse off the videoclip.

We helped the captain and his crew to set the bom bram kliver, because the other one ripped in the storm yesterday.

 

Then we got the Italian dinner, which was pretty good. They made spaghetti carbonara and tiramisu for desert. They even sang the national anthem after thein presentation.

 

Now it’s the last watch of today, from 8 to 12, it’s 8 o’clock and I’m getting pretty tired. We played a game, Who am I. We came up with a famous person and 1 of the trainees had to guess who it is by asking questions. We could only answer by yes or no!

 

For the rest the watch was quit, the sunset was verry beautiful and everybody from the watch before us stayed to watch and take pictures.

 

Karlijn, white watch

Holland

Sunday 15th Blog Update: Red Watch and the Shop

Good afternoon everybody who is reading this blog!

Sunday 15^th of August started 03.30 in the morning with the sun rising from the dark. The weather was nice till the end of the watch, so we just enjoyed a peaceful and relaxing time on the deck. Today everyone is looking forward for the Czech dinner in the evening.

Well, today the idea of establishing a sweet shop was remembered and at last started to gain shape. For my interest I was chosen to run the shop which I find quite exciting. So, I had to prepare a poster and the prices for the shop. I especially enjoy the name of the shop. A big challenge for me is getting used to selling in Euro’s as I’m a Lithuanian currently studying in the UK. The selling list is not so large but long enough to make life sweeter on the boat. Prices are set to be reachable for everyone. The best part is that the money collected will be used for the Goodbye Party! It will contribute towards organizing it and buying some stuff for it. I am really looking forward for the first of the shop. I want to see how it goes and if people are interested in buying some sweets from the local shop. I hope we won’t have any problems with change J   

Maz, Red Watch

 

Some sights of amsterdam

.

Bar at end of voyage party

.

Stavros in lock waiting to enter the canal for Sail Amsterdam

.

Mentors relax ahead of Sail Amsterdam

.

Painting the Bosun

.

5 Birthday Cakes = bad things due to sugar overload

.

Sun bathing trainees !

.

3 crew members - Sent to us from a local Dutch Photographer!

Thanks for sending this to us Gerard !

Voyage is over - a new crew join the ship tomorrow

So as I type this, the final berths aboard our ship are being sold and at 08:00 tomorrow a new crew will join to take her to Germany.

 

I have a load of updates and photos to add to the blog which I will do over the next few days.

 

I hope you have enjoyed the posts we managed to upload whilst sailing and once I’m on a broadband connection I will send a whole heap of updates…

 

Fair winds!

 

 

Chris

In the locks in IJmuiden

13.08 & 14.08 updates

Update from the Swedish Trainees.
Day 3 - Thursday 12th
Today we were having a Swedish day on board Kaliakra. We took care of the kitchen and made a typical Swedish dinner, meatballs with potatoes and gravy. Grace from Portugal helped us as well, since we were one swede short. It was very interesting
working with the Bulgarian chef especially since he didn't speak a word of English. It worked out very well and the crew seemed to be satisfied with our Swedish cooking skills. It was also a fun experience cooking with everything moving back and
forth. After the dinner we had a presentation of Sweden, it all went fine. We went to sleep early since my watch was going to start at 0400.
Day 4 - Friday 13th
Chris woke us up at 0315 and we all needed to go on deck. It was raining and we could feel the storm coming in. We started to play a game of Pride and Prejudice but we had to stop, since the weather got worse. The seasickness is starting to appear and
more people joining the green team every day. White team stands strong! The lunch was cancelled since the chef decided it was not safe to cook, so I had some apples and cookies before going to bed and trying to sleep. Rough day but definitely and
experience to remember and I am proud I could handle it so well.
A message for the Swedish Speakers
Smyger in ett par rader på svenska här också. Vi svenska vikingar står självklart pall mot dom ökända nordsjö stormarna. Medans nästan hela besättningen sprider spyor både här och där. Mår vi oförtjänt bra. Köttbullarna var mer eller mindre pannbiffar
och hela rätten var ganska bulgariskt inspirerad men alla verkade gilla det och det är huvudsaken. Presentationen av sverige gick väldigt bra och Europas ungdomar vet nu vad en fika är.

Updates from Red Watch
.........................................................................................

Friday 13th August 2010
We started our first watch at 00:00 till 04:00. Around 2 o'clock there was a storm coming. There were probably two of them. They were coming from different sides and colliding just above us, which meant that we will have a rough night ahead. There were
coming waves over one side of the ship, which looked quite scary in the beginning. So, we started to furl few sails to decrease the power to the vessel.
People were wet and tired, but still working on the deck till the end of the watch. Hard work was successful and we were able to go to sleep at 04.00 o'clock. Not for long…. At 06.00 o'clock there was an 'all hands on deck alarm'.
Everyone had to get on the deck because we were tacking in a strong wind and there was a high need of men power. Finally, we went back to our beds for some more sleep, but still some people were working on the deck because a lot of people from other
watches were sea sick and they felt a lack of people. We called a green watch, which was working almost 24 hours per day.
The majority woke up just before the next watch to try having lunch. The storm was still at its peak. Strong wind, rain and rough sea made a lot of people sea sick, which of course made the situation pretty unpleasant. However, we began our watch from
12.00 till 04.00 in the afternoon. We tried to play some games during the watch to build up the mood inside the ship. We played a game called 'pride and prejudice'. It's a game to learn about the other countries and to take away the preconceptions.
Inside the ship most of the people were getting sea sick, so a lot of the trainees stayed on deck even though it was raining. In addition, even the crew of the ship was sea sick… So the weather was challenging. Our last watch was much better because
the storm finished and we could enjoy dry weather with no wind. We could even see the sun! So a lot of people just went outside to chill and relax after a stressful day. We ended our watch in a good mood, looking at the stars and hoping to see nice
weather tomorrow.
Saturday 14th of August started differently! The sun was shining for the first time in four days so the weather was brilliant! We started our watch with a game called "Who am I". It was pretty fun and relaxing. Later that day people started to sunbath
and drying their clothes on the deck; the mood in the ship was much better and it was increasing with every hour. We helped the crew to remove the broken sail; some of us also helped the Captain to secure (hank on) the bramsail. This meant we had to
climb up in the top of the mast and out on the yard; it was an amazing view from up there.
Later in the day we decided to film a music video on the ship. It will involve all the trainees and the crew. We saw few inspiring examples and we decided to make one even better. All this activity and the day is not yet finished….

Received: from GCC at Globe Wireless;
Sat, 14 Aug 2010 16:32 UTC
Message-id: 650934934

Storm Adventure

Hello from the Crew,

Today we find we have a new watch in additon to the three usual; Red, White, Blue and now Green.

Yes if you haven't guessed the crew are experiencing the true power of the North Sea with a great storm. Several traines have been ill (and even some of the mentors)however spirits are still high.

We have several sails set at at the time of writing this post (12.25pm) we are doing 7.5Kts, steering 104 degrees and at a position of 56 dgrees 26.577 Minutes North and 001 Degrees 0.371 Minutes East.

Updates on the storms, the first 2 international meals and more will follow tomorrow... when we hope the storm eases!

Regards from a rough sea!

The AtSea Crew & Mentors

Received: from GCC at Globe Wireless;
Fri, 13 Aug 2010 16:20 UTC
Message-id: 650687260

daily report 12.08.10

Blog day 1 Blue Watch

My day started really early this morning: 6 a.m., and this process was like a miracle – supposedly my co-worker Francisco should have been the one waking me up, but ultimately he was snoring like a pig, when I checked him in his room! :)

At 6 a.m like a beautiful princess I just opened my gorgeous eyes like magic and then I started cleaning, having the pleasure to begin with the girls toilet which was really pleasurable. Then I served the breakfast to all the trainees. Afterwards I
climbed the mast which was very scary, but exciting but at the same time.

After lunch we went for a tour in Hartlepool that although it was nice, the weather is really different from my country, it was raining and cold. We had to play a game called tea bag exchange. I decided to go alone and I went to several houses to try
to do the exchange. At first an old lady gave me a vegetarian soup then a big coffee bag then a little boy gave me a lucky stone and then I finally exchanged it for a monkey doll with a certificate that I was known as one of the monkey's crew.

It was really funny and I met many people. At the end of the day we came back to Kaliakra and finally I served dinner. This was a really important day to get to know the crew and practice my English.

I finally discovered my true calling today – being a Garbage woman! :))))

Bye, bye – Mariana, Portugal Nr:19

The Exchange Begins: Day 1, Arrival

The day started differently for every person. Some woke up in their own bed, some spent their night on the Newcastle beach, but everyone finally ended up aboard the Kaliakra.
The trainees who arrived early with 2 of the mentors went to do some shopping after the raising of the flag by the crew, which is traditionally done in every port. Food shopping for the ship was a great fun because of the large quantity bought and the
way back to the ship was exciting. Pushing through the crowd with trollies full of food for the journey… After some quick introductions and a speech from the Captain we played an ice breaking game where we tied ourselves up in a knot. It helped to
break down some personal barriers and increased our understanding of team work.

Later in the day we learnt sail and rigging terms in Bulgarian, which was quite a challenge for the majority. Whilst we were learning the terms, some crews from the other ships were making amusing shows for the public. Without the fun and learning
there had to be some paper work done which is a necessity for the trip to go smoothly. Moreover, the drama with the Italian luggage ended… They are getting their stuff back and the Italian day is saved! In the evening there were visitors from the
Swedish Tall ship committee who are organizing the Tall Ship Races in Halmstad 2011.

The captain and some trainees were showing them the ship and shared ideas about the race next year. They enjoyed the tour and left the ship satisfied. The day still has not ended…. Looking forward for the next adventure before sailing!

Trainee Log: Day 2
The day started really early for me : 6.00 a.m., like a miracle to me, because I was hoping that Francisco would wake me up, but ultimately, he was snoring like a pig so, like magic, my beautiful eyes just opened EXACTLY at the time that I was supposed
to wake up! :) I cleaned the kitchens and the mess room floors and I had the pleasure to clean the fantastic toilet. Afterwards I prepared all meals and I finally found my Calling: I`m perfectly fit to be a Garbage woman!!!!! Bye bye, Mariana, PORTUGAL

It was fun to be able to climb the rigging and now I am hoping to climb further!!! In order to have one cookie I have to eat one tomato :(. And I am really eager for someone to cut my hair!!!!!!!! Last night I didn't hear the engine start as we moved
out of the deep water berths into victoria harbour :) Colm, UK

Last night we finally got our luggage so I could sleep in my sleeping bag with clean clothes!!! That was beautiful…. I slept so well!! So this morning I was ready to climb the mast…it was really fun and I hope to do it again…this morning we also
learned lots of things about the boat because the captain held a sort of lesson and showed us lots of ropes and parts of the boat, he also taught us some words in Bulgarian, that was interesting and I expect we'll learn lots of other words….
Paolo, Italy

This morning's climb to the Mast was really pleasurable – exciting and scary at the same time – and when I was up there, I just wanted to spread my wings and soar, but my security system just wouldn't let me!...
Afterwards, our Mentor Chris, was really mean and forced me into leading the Blue Watch team, to set sail!...
Everything is going well until now, I am sure that many more exciting moments! Grace, PORTUGAL

The morning was not too different from the day before. We had the early breakfast, raised the flag and a tour of the ship done by the captain. Then came the interesting part! After some waiting we finally had the opportunity to climb the fore mast. In
was both challenging and exciting, as the tricks with life lines and everything was not easy to get the hold off. Yet, in the end, we successfully got our mast climbing practice and went to have lunch.
Lukas, Lithuania

I am so glad because I had this opportunity to learn so many words in Bulgarian like fal, contrafal, foc, kliver, scothi, gauss, bom brau, grot and many more. I also like very much to put on the "bra" and climb up the sails but the locks were a bit
trick to work with but the experience was very pleasant and I can't wait to do it in the sea. Yesterday I was so tired that I could not even notice that

Received: from GCC at Globe Wireless;
Thu, 12 Aug 2010 16:11 UTC
Message-id: 650348628

Red Watch - Race line start photo

.

White Watch - Race start team photo

.

Blue Watch - race start team photo

.

Post race start briefing by captain

.

Race Start !

.

Learning the skills of a sailor!

.

Setting sail before the race

Setting sails for the first time at sea - the adventure begins!
.

Birthday Girl Emma takes part in Lifeboat drill

.

Life boat drill

.

Life Boat Drill

.

Life boat drill

.

Trainee accommodation aboard the ship

.

Crew Parade Band (from one of the ships)

.

Can you spot our boat?

Look for the ship with green sails and we're next door!
.

Stavros Crew in Hartlepool Crew Parade

.

Hanging flags

.

Decorating the Mess

.

More learning

.

Learning the ropes

.

Our Exchange Schedule

Trainees taking part in the Tall Ships Exchange project have received funding from the British Council, as a requirement of the funding the trainees have worked together to produce a da-to-day schedule for the voyage. Whilst the weather, racing requirements and, of course, the Captain will have the final say if all goes to plan; this is what we should be doing.

You can find a copy of our daily plan at http://www.adventureundersail.org/Final%20Version%20DAY%20TO%20DAY%20PROGRAM%20eigen%5B1%5D.pdf

A personal favourite of mine is that we get trainees from each country to cook a national dish during the voyage, not only is it great to task cooking from different countries but great fun to see people cooking at sea for 40+ whilst racing; this is usually a first for most of them!

Chris Hirst [Voyage Mentor]

Finding Kaliakra In Hartlepool

When the Tall Ships Fleet arrives in Hartlepool, hundreds of visitors will
flock to the port; to see the ships. If you are one of these, the picture of
the mooring plan should help you find Kaliakra.