tallshipsdropanchor

Discovering Cartagena

More Articles By Phillip Bruce www.raxomnium.com

Tall Ships Drop Anchor At Cartagena

Cartagena is a very busy port and container ships, gas carriers, cruise ships, warships and a variety of other vessels are constantly arriving and departing.

However, the elegant days of sail are not yet dead. Private sailing boats fill the moorings by the waterside and there are several large vessels to be seen.

Two of the world’s largest sailing ships make calls at Cartagena. These are the Prince William and the Stavros S Niarchos, which are identical sister ships and which belong to the Tall Ships Youth Trust.

Throughout the year these beautiful ships give young, and some not-so-young, people a chance to experience life under sail and the trust has been operating for some 50 years. Everyone signs on as voyage crew as all hands are needed to sail the ships and there are three watches to be worked. Of course, there are professional, full-time, crew members who are experts in the complicated business of sailing such large vessels. These are the captain, chief officer, chief engineer, second officer, bosun, cook and, on some voyages, a third officer. There is also a Volunteer crew, which fills such posts as first aid purser, assistant engineer, second and assistant cook and youth mentors.

The Tall Ships charity has proved over the years that the challenges of sailing are of fantastic benefit in helping young people, some of whom have faced considerable problems in their lives, to gain confidence and to make real achievements in a very demanding environment.

Of course, everyone loves to see a tall ship arriving or leaving harbour, or even tied up at the waterside. However, it is difficult to predict accurately when they will be in Cartagena as, obviously, everything depends on the wind. However, there are regular Mediterranean voyages where Cartagena is on the itinerary, wind permitting.

The pictures show The Prince William at Cartagena on a 2006 visit.

Information can be found at www.tallships.org.

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