Race
and Entering Aalborg
The
ship had been preparing for this race for last couple of months and the
succeeding paragraphs innumerate the events from 28-30 Jul 15 during and after the
race.
Photographs
Taken By Young Endeavour Crew – Tarangini At Sail Parade
The
Sail Parade commenced at 1200 hr local time after the ships were lined up in
the promulgated formation. Sail Parade was an evolution where 86 tall ships
were required to sail together in a designated formation at a distance of 01C
from each other and a speed of 5 knots. In the sail parade the ship covered a
distance of 12NM. Maneuvering during the Sail Parade was tricky as hundreds of
boats owned by locals continued to pass the ship at 10 meters or less.
THE START
On completion of
the Parade of Sails the ship started preparations for the race. These included
removing the dressing lines, ungasketing and setting sails. A two watch organization for the race and an
SSD organization for the Race Start had been formulated. The winds were from
WNW the start line was oriented 000-180 by the Race Control, which was
operating from Norwegian Coast Guard Ship Svalbaard. The ship thus proceeded to
a position East of the Start Line, to enable a starboard tack, broad reach
start. To facility adequate maneuvering space and no close quarter situations a
Start Gate of 20 minutes was promulgated for Class A ships. The ships were thus
required to start anywhere between 1800 to 1820 hr local time and their time of
crossing the start line would be counted for final calculations. As the winds
were from the quarter it was decided to start at the back of the fleet and them
build up during the race. The starts for Classes B, C and D were scheduled at
intervals of 20 minutes thereafter. The ship thus started at 1817 hr local
time. The winds being from stbd qtr ensured that the ship got better speeds
than all those ahead of her and in close vicinity. By 2200 hr local time, the
ship had gained gained 04 positions among Class A ships. The sky was overcast
and rainy throughout the night and the crew kept pushing her from one vessel to
the other.
Lining Up For The Start
DAY TWO
The daybreak saw
the ship rounding Waypoint 1. By then the ship had passed one-third of the
fleet and some Class B, C and D ships had over taken us. As the vessels
converged at waypoint 1 the winds died down to 3-4 knots and the weather
forecast indicated nil to very low winds in the next 12 hours. The ship had
experienced a 1-1.5 knot easterly current on the way to Kristiansand in the
same region, it was thus decided to go as south as possible without losing
distance. This was done to ensure that the ship drifted past waypoint 2 with
the current even if the winds reduced further. The distance of about 50 miles
to waypoint 2 was covered in 24 hours. These 24 hours were packed with activity
as lack of winds meant lack of steerage way. The crew worked tirelessly to
benefit from ever gust of wind and to ensure that no close quarter situation
slows the ship down.
Race Underway
GALE WARNING
At daybreak on 30
Jul the ship overtook the Brazilian Naval STS Cisne Branco and rounded waypoint
2. At this point the winds had started increasing and the ship was now in the
middle to the fleet. With another 65 Nm to waypoint 3 and 120 Nm to finish the
prospects of finishing somewhere in the top of the fleet looked good. The call
to go south after waypoint 1 had paid off, as many who didn’t, had missed
waypoint 2 and had to come back to round the mark. At around 1000 hr local time
the Race Control announced that the race was being called off at 1200 UTC view
weather and the positions at 1200 hr would be noted to decide final positions.
After the final position of the ship was passed to the Race Control a Gale
warning was issued and ships were told to indicate ETA Aalborg. The ship
thereafter sought permission to enter Aalborg on the 31 Jul 15, a day in
advance. Wind speed increased gradually and by the evening of 30 Jul 15 ship
was under sails with winds of 25- 30 knots. While the ship made her way to
Aalborg most of the ships from neighboring countries entered ports along the
way with most of them entering the port of Skagen in Denmark.
Gale Winds after The
Race Was Called Off
The ship
commenced entry into harbour at 1100h after embarking the pilot. The channel to
reach the berth was 21NM in length. For the entry into Aalborg the ship was
dressed over all and the ship side was manned by ship’s company. Due to 25-30
knots of head on winds the ship could average a speed of 5 knots while entering
harbour and thus took 7 hours from pilot embarkation to alongside. The tugs
available for berthing were not suitable and due to lack of space the ship had
to make a stern board approach on to the 40 meter berth. With winds of upto 25
knots and a current of 2 knots, both from right astern the approach required
some fine maneuvering to get alongside.
Entering
Harbour Knots Of Head On Winds
A knock out
football tournament for crew members of all the participating ships was held on
01 Aug 15. Ship’s football team finished runners up in the tournament. In an
exhilarating and closely fought final, they lost to team from Brazilian Naval
ship, Cisne Branco. On their way to the finals, the ship’s team had beaten
teams from Netherlands, Germany and Ecuador.
Football Finals With
Brazil
Runner
Up Of Football Championship
A Crew Parade of all
the participating ships was held from Aalborg Central park to the Main stage in
the port area. The ship paraded two contingents. A marching contingent of
Officers and sea trainees and a contingent of ship’s company dressed in
traditional wear representing different states of India. The crew of the ship
had created a two minute continuity drill for
the marching contingent. This drill was practiced at sea on passage to Kristiansand
and then finally fine tuned on the jetty at Aalborg. The ship’s marching contingent which was lead
by the “Nishaan Toli” in full ceremonials, with
the Bugler playing and the Sea Trainees singing along was a big hit with the
spectators. Even the crew from other ships stopped during the parade to watch
the drill.
Continuity Drill On
Jetty
Nishan
Toli during Continuity Drill In Town Square
At
1000hrs on 03 Aug 15 Vice
Admiral Sunil Lanba C-in-C Southern Naval Command visited the ship. Admiral had
a walk around of the ship. Thereafter he addressed Sea Trainees and the crew of
the ship. He congratulated the ship’s company for the voyage so far and wished
the best for upcoming events. During the address he also shared his experiences
at sea. On completion of the address he interacted with ship’s company and Sea
Trainees.
Receiving
FoC-in-C South Vice Admiral Sunil Lanba
A reception was hosted onboard at
1900 hrs on 03 Aug 15 followed by dinner. The ship remained dressed overall for
the occasion. The reception was attended by C-in-C Southern Naval Command Vice
Admiral Sunil Lanba, The Ambassador of Indian to the Denmark, The Mayor of Aalborg,
Chairman and Members of the Sail Training International, DAs of other countries
and captains of other Tall Ships. The Commanding Officer addressed the
gathering and expressed his gratitude to the government and the Aalborg. After
this he gave a small brief on the ship and this voyage, this was accompanied by
slide show depicting various activities of the ship.
Chairman Sail
Training International Addressing The Gathering
Foc-In-C South
Presenting A Silver Salver To Lord Mayor Of Aalborg
The highlight of the evening was an
impressive performance by the Sea Trainees and Mr Haakon from Sastraad Lehmkul,
the Norwegian Sail Training Ship. The Trainees and Mr. Haakon a renowned singer
had prepared a surprise for the gathering. During the day Mr Haakon conducted a
class on Shanty Singing for the trainees. This enthusiastic bunch thus gathered
around and enthralled the audience with ‘Shantys”.
Sea Trainees Entertaining the Guest with Shanty’s
To wrap up the evening the Captain
welcomed the Commander in Chief to the Tall Ship Events in Aalborg. On a
lighter note the C in C was presented a “Crew Wrist Band” as the crew of INS
Tarangini. This Wrist Band gives access to all the rides, all music festivals,
all crew parties, and some pubs in town. With all these freebees associated to
it, the crew wrist band was probably the most valuable gift the crew could give
to their C in C.
FoC-In-C South Being Included As a Participant of Tall
Ships Races 2015
The guests were served Indian
delicacies prepared by the ship’s cooks and some procured from a local Indian
Restaurant. The crew has had the opportunity to sample the local Brew in every
town that we have visited so far. So we the crew of Tarangini offered a toast
with a popular Indian Dark Rum for the well being of those at sea. With
captains of various tall ships attending the toast and the whole event
including the Shanty’s turned out to be a spectacular success.
Guests
Relishing Indian Delicacies
