Morgenster’s first voyage had 12 nationalities on board

Admin | Tall Ships | August 3, 2008

The Dutch Class A ship Morgenster, a two masted brig, joined The Tall Ships’ Races for the first time this year, although was originally built as a fishing boat before being recently rigged as a sailing ship. This first race was not only a trial voyage for her, but she was operating as an international exchange vessel with 12 nationalities of trainees on board.

The trainees, from Australia, Bermuda, Brazil, France, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, UK and the USA, all met for the first time in Liverpool where they joined the ship. For many this was their first experience on a tall ship while others had experienced different ships in different countries. All, however, are now firm friends.

New Zealander Ben Dickson joined the ship after being offered a place through the Australian National Sail Training Organisation of which he is a member. The 21 year old often sails on Spirit of New Zealand as a volunteer crew member but was delighted to be able to come to Europe to take part in The Tall Ships’ Races. Maria Cooper, 17, from Sweden has sailed on her school ship Gunilla a few times but also wanted to take part in the race and decided to join Morgenster, although had no idea what she looked like until she saw the ship in Liverpool. For Daniel Karapolos, 20, this was his very first time sailing and was encouraged to do so by his Greek father who has been instrumental in the recent creation of the Greek National Sail Training Organisation.

Daniel, who has Dutch nationality, said he had no idea what to expect before he joined the ship except that he thought it sounded like an adventure. “The friends I’ve made have been great although sometimes I had no idea what I was supposed to be doing as many people knew what to do and got on with it, because it was a race.”

The international crew were very keen on doing everything they could to win the race and were constantly trimming the sails, especially at night when it was quiet. “Then we had no wind and that was frustrating, although to start with we thought it was great to lie in the sun, but then we wanted to be doing something,” said Daniel. The ship finally came in 6th in her class and 9th overall.

With so many nationalities on board, a special ‘ship’s language’ was developed which borrowed words from many different languages, but which everyone understood. “We would often tease each other about their different accents,” said Maria, “and then we tried to cook something from each of our countries, which wasn’t particularly easy with the lack of ingredients!” Another game they played was to pick up a cereal packet from the deck in their teeth, which Maria said was easier said than done, “particularly in the middle of the night with the ship heeling over!”

Ben said they danced the samba one night, “but that’s not easy to do in seaboots and full wet weather gear!” The three of them have really enjoyed their stay on board and think that Maløy is beautiful. “It is very strange to have such long days and still be able to see everything even at 4 in the morning,” Ben said.

Ben and Maria said their experience on board Morgenster was very different to their previous experiences on Spirit of New Zealand and Gunilla respectively. “Gunilla has a very structured approach to the way they do things and so it was strange to be on a ship which was much freer,” said Maria, who joins Gunilla again in September for another voyage from Sweden to Spain.

Daniel said he would love to have another opportunity to sail again and thought that would probably be during the Historical Seas Tall Ships Regatta which was taking place in 2010 from Greece to Bulgaria and Turkey. “It is hard to imagine having a better time as I’ve really made some great friends,” he said.

Ben summed up the experience by saying, “I think you make better friends on a Tall Ship than you do in your daily life,” a sentiment which the others agreed with.

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