Thursday, October 23, 2008

The boats of today


Many of the shiips of today have been turned into modern tall ships. Over 75% of todays have had to get engines, winch systems, modern electrical sytems and many other new systems. Because of these new systems the term traditional sailing has been changed. Since the merchant races the prime days of tall ships many ways of working, rigging and sailing itself. Because of todays society a ship is no longer ran like it use to be. The point is we need to stop building freighters and other types of propelled powered vessels and go back to the traditionnel way of merchandise transportation.

Monday, October 20, 2008

HMS Victory




The HMS Victory built in 1759 and launched in 1760. She is the only remaining ship of her class and is still in commition. The Victory is said to have been the most feared and powerful war ship of her age. Under the command of Lord Nelson during the war 1812, the vistory was Nelson's flagship and was always accompagnied by a fleet of ships of different classes. The vicotry is the eldest sailing war ship thats still in existance. In 1922, the Victory was moved to the oldest drydock for the rest of her days because her hull was beginning to be to old to stay afloat. In 1941, during world war 2 a luttwaffe plane had managed to drop a bomb into the Victory's drydock and she sustained major hull damage and then had to under go extensif restoration. Since then she has remained in drydock and will always remain their to serve as a memorial of british pride and history.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Tall ship regattas


Tall ship regattas are very popular around the world. A regatta is an event when 20 to 50 ships reunite at a port na dis also considered a race to see who gets their first to proove who is the better crew. During regattas vessels stay at port and do decktours, sell merchandise and historical facts about the ship. Regattas are very popular in Europe and the U.S, some are heald in Canada but are very rare. In the summer of 2007 I participated in a tall ships regatta in Halifax, Nova Scotia. They were about 20 boats and were from U.S, Canada and Europe. Their were many tourist and festivities. Getting to see the different kinds of hulls, rigs and crew was awsome.

Friday, October 3, 2008

The Peking from the famous p-liners was built by the laeisz family. It is a 4 masted barque was part of the wheat and nitrate trade for many years and would have to travel around the trecherous cape horn. She is very known for being able to travel around the horn and not sustaining much damage. She has had many owners but now she is permently docked in New York harbour and serves as a musem for the p-liners and her travels during her merchant racing days.

winning the lottery


If i won the lottery my life would change because then i would be able to pretty much buy anything that I want. Wat would mostly changeis the fact that i would immedietly buy myself a massive yacht so that i could sail around the world.

Thursday, October 2, 2008



This is the three masted barque Belem from France. This boat travels the atlantic, south and indian ocean. It is a sail training vessel. She is a deep sea sail boat she can handle pretty much any kind of weather and will not sustain any damage. She was part of the sugar races transporting it from the west indies, to brazil, the french guina and the nantes. For many years she had multiple owner until in 1972 she was towed back to her home port and was put under the french flag once again. Still around today she has become a well-known boat in the tall ship world.
Here is the schooner Empire Sandy, origanily a sdeep sea alvage tug during the ww2 she is made of half inch tempered iron and can ressist light shell blasting. In 1982 she starting serving as a charter boat for wedding, private events, privated charters. Every few years she travels to south america or across the atlantic. Her captain Gordon Sloan is a very skilled helmans because to maneuver this boat you must have great insticts because you can't see were you are goin half the time.