ARTICLE "ŻAGLE" october 2001"
TALL SHIPS 2000 - RACE OF MY DREAMS, author Wojciech Siodelski
All started in the beginning of April 2000. We were not participating in the race during first legs. We decided just to follow tall ships fleet. We didn't have appropriate crew. Half of the crew members should have been under 25. I wasn't disappointed because when the first leg started the weather was really bad. Wind was blowing from west with a gale force. At this time we were sitting in pub in Cherbourg sipping wine and having fun. When wind direction changed to SSW and force dropped to 6 B I decided to leave Cherbourg. It was 20th of April as I remember. We could do up to 11 knots sailing with the tidal stream during first few hours. Unfortunately storm left unpleasant waves on English Channel. That made some of us sick. I tried not to show my crew that I was suffering from seasickness too, I wanted them to feel safe.
When finally our stomaches let us feel better we realized that we had Easter holidays. Apart from that 4 of us had name-day. We celebrated during breakfast time wishing ourselves strong winds from the back.
I remember Bay of Biscay then. We had wind blowing from south so we couldn't achieve Leixoes in Portugal as soon as we wanted. It took us more then a week to sail 500 miles between Cherbourg and Leixoes. After then we spent one day in Lisbone. We were going to Cadiz in Spain. This was the place where all Tall Ships were waitng for us.
Crowded Cadiz welcomed us on the beginning of May. We were very delighted to see all those great tall ships standing in the bay. We were told that polish "Dar Młodzieży" had won the leg from Southampton to Cadiz! We felt so proud. Polish accent in that great competition.
Most of the time that we had in Cadiz was spent on visiting other boats and tall ships. We were also participating in parties with great latin music. Thousands of people were interested to see sailors comunity. We were part of it. It was so great.
On May 7th just after breakfast with a new crew we left harbour to take part in great parade. It was sunny day and a light breeze seemed to be the best wind condition for all of us. This day whole fleet started another leg. Bermuda was next destination. Only me and bosun were under 25 so we couldn't paricipate in official race. We decided to go to Canary Islands first to get ready before crossing Atlantic Ocean.
High temperature and silence on the ocean on the way to Canary. Only dolphins were our companions. Bosun started to renovate our Zjawa. I was thinking about crossing Atlantic. After 7 days we arrived at Tenerife. Two days spent on preparing for a long trip. We couldonly afford to visit peak El Teide with rented car. On May 17th we were ready to start long voyage to Bermuda. "How is it going to be on Atlantic?" - I was wondering.
It was wonderful experience to be so close to the nature. Three weeks spent on the ocean, days were very similar. Beautiful weather, trade winds and high speeds. Each day was sunny, windy, filled with passion of sailing. We tried to exercise everyday because nobody wanted to put on weight. We had a sort of fitness club. Every evening we were all together on deck discussing different problems. Guys were talking about their children, wives. Some of them were complaining because they were to leave on Bermuda. I was dreaming about New Foundland. Generally, all of us were happy to be there and to feel that great pleasure of sailing.
On June the 9th, after 23 days on Atlantic we finally saw Bermuda and moored in Hamilton. We could join the Tall Ships fleet once again. Having met well-known boats we were enjoying life on land. Zjawa IV stayed on Bermuda for 5 days. Another change of crew and we had to leave those exotic island heading towards United States. This was the beginning of Cruise-in-Company.
During next month we visited few american ports: Norfolk, Annapolis, Baltimore, Newport where we participated in sailing parade, New York where we met "Dar Młodzieży" and "Pogoria".
We were welcomed in Boston on 11th July. Parade of sail was organised before entering the harbour. The whole event called "SAIL BOSTON" was not properly organised. We were not informed on time about different events. When we wanted to visit our friends on "Pogoria" we had to walk more then an hour because there were not enough water taxis. From here we had official leg to Halifax in Canada. All crew tried their best during this leg but unforunately there was no wind. That is why I was forced to resign and turn the engine on after 2 days of silence. There was going to be change of crew in Halifax and we had to be on time. Of course few hours later it started to blow freshly.
In Halifax we had an opportunity to participate in our last sailing parade with Tall Ships 2000 fleet. We went to New Foundland then. I remember it was my dream to visit St.John's. I was very happy to see no fog in the entrance. I had read before about very difficult entrance to St.John's, almost impossible to achieve in fog without radar. We didn't have radar but there was no fog - very unusual in this area. We passed Signal Hill and narrow entrance and my dream came true. I was on New Foundland! We spent there few days entertaining ourselves. Atlantic was waiting for us, so as soon as wind direction changed to west we started our way back home.
Zjawa was going very fast with strong wind from the back. She was doing up to 180 nautical miles a day. After only 12 days we reached Brest on the north coast of France. It was quite fast - with average 160 nautical miles a day.
Last change of crew in Brest and we followed tall ships fleet again. We were to reach Amsterdam - the last harbour of Tall Ships 2000 event. On the way to Netherlands we visited Portsmouth and Dover where we met "Zawisza Czarny".
In the end of August Zjawa IV moored in Amsterdam. This was the end of her long race. All yachts from Cutty Surk on Baltic Sea also came to Amsterdam to join our fleet. All boats, and sailing ships from different countries were nicely decorated. We made our Zjawa looking lovely too. Farewell Zjawa!
