The sail training ship Kaiwo Maru II

1 January 2016 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: Tall ships, Yacht of the Month Reading Time:  5 minutes

Kaiwo Maru II in Yokohama © baku13/cc-by-sa-3.0

Kaiwo Maru II in Yokohama © baku13/cc-by-sa-3.0

Kaiwo Maru II is a Japanese four-masted training barque tall ship. She was built in 1989 to replace a 1930 ship of the same name. She is 110.09 m (361.2 ft) overall, with a beam of 13.80 m (45.3 ft) and a depth of 10.70 m (35.1 ft). She is assessed as 2,556 GT. Propulsion is by two 4-cylinder diesel engines and a total of 2,760 m2 (29,700 sq ft) of sails. The engines have a total power of 3,000 horsepower (2,200 kW) and can propel the ship at a maximum of 14.1 kn (26.1 km/h; 16.2 mph), with a normal service maximum of 13 kn (24 km/h; 15 mph). Kaiwo Maru has a range of 9,800 nmi (18,100 km; 11,300 mi). The four masts are the fore mast, main mast, mizzen mast and jigger mast. The main mast is 43.50 m (142.7 ft). Her complement is 199.   read more…

The Statsraad Lehmkuhl

1 December 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: Tall ships, Yacht of the Month Reading Time:  5 minutes

Statsraad Lehmkuhl and Lord Nelson © flickr.com - Bruno Girin/cc-by-sa-2.0

Statsraad Lehmkuhl and Lord Nelson © flickr.com – Bruno Girin/cc-by-sa-2.0

The Statsraad Lehmkuhl is a three-masted barque rigged sail training vessel owned and operated by the Statsraad Lehmkuhl Foundation. It is based in Bergen, Norway and contracted out for various purposes, including serving as a school ship for the Royal Norwegian Navy.   read more…

The sail training ship Sagres III

1 November 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: Tall ships, Yacht of the Month Reading Time:  < 1 minute

N.R.P. Sagres on Tejo<br>© Lopo Pizarro - www.lopo.pt/cc-by-2.5

N.R.P. Sagres on Tejo
© Lopo Pizarro – www.lopo.pt/cc-by-2.5

The NRP Sagres is a tall ship and sail training ship of the Portuguese Navy since 1961. As the third ship with this name of the historical important city of Sagres in the Portuguese Navy, she is sometimes referred to as Sagres III. The ship is a steel-built three masted barque, with square sails on the fore and main masts and gaff rigging on the mizzen mast. Her main mast rises 42 m above the deck. She carries 22 sails totaling about 2,000 m² (21,000 ft²) and can reach a top speed of 17 knots (31 km/h) under sail. She has a sparred length of 89 m (295 ft), a width of 12 m (40 ft), a draught of 5.2 m (17 ft), and a displacement at full load of 1,755 tons.   read more…

The three-masted barque Alexander von Humboldt

12 October 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Tall ships Reading Time:  7 minutes

All sails set © Winfried Huber

All sails set © Winfried Huber

Alexander von Humboldt is a German ship originally built in 1906 by the German shipyard AG Weser at Bremen as Reserve Sonderburg. She was operated throughout the North and Baltic Seas until being retired in 1986. Subsequently she was converted into a three masted barque by the German shipyard Motorwerke Bremerhaven and was re-launched in 1988 as Alexander von Humboldt.   read more…

The hotel ship Barken Viking

1 October 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: Tall ships, Hotels, Yacht of the Month Reading Time:  6 minutes

Barken Viking © Pär Henning

Barken Viking © Pär Henning

The Viking (better known by the ship type as a prefix, Barken Viking) is a four-masted steel barque, built in 1906 by Burmeister & Wain in Copenhagen, Denmark. She is reported to be the biggest sailing ship ever built in Scandinavia. Viking was originally built as a sail training ship for the rapidly growing Danish merchant fleet. At that time, seaworthiness and cargo capacity were given top priority. One day in July 1909, while carrying a full cargo of wheat from Australia, Captain Niels Clausen recorded a speed record in the ship’s log: 15.5 knots (28.7 km/h; 17.8 mph).   read more…

The Cutty Sark in Greenwich

10 September 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: Tall ships, London, Museums, Exhibitions, Yacht of the Month Reading Time:  8 minutes

© flickr.com - Karen Roe/cc-by-2.0

© flickr.com – Karen Roe/cc-by-2.0

The Cutty Sark is a British clipper ship. Built on the Clyde in 1869 for the Jock Willis Shipping Line, she was one of the last tea clippers to be built and one of the fastest, coming at the end of a long period of design development which halted as sailing ships gave way to steam propulsion.   read more…

The museum ship Great Britain

7 September 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: Tall ships, Museums, Exhibitions Reading Time:  6 minutes

© mattbuck/cc-by-sa-3.0

© mattbuck/cc-by-sa-3.0

SS Great Britain is a museum ship and former passenger steamship, which was advanced for her time. She was the longest passenger ship in the world from 1845 to 1854. She was designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel for the Great Western Steamship Company‘s transatlantic service between Bristol and New York. While other ships had been built of iron or equipped with a screw propeller, Great Britain was the first to combine these features in a large ocean-going ship. She was the first iron steamer to cross the Atlantic, which she did in 1845, in the time of 14 days.   read more…

The HMS Victory in Portsmouth

7 August 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: Tall ships, Museums, Exhibitions, Yacht of the Month Reading Time:  6 minutes

HMS Victory © Ballista/cc-by-sa-3.0

HMS Victory © Ballista/cc-by-sa-3.0

HMS Victory is a 104-gun first-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, laid down in 1759 and launched in 1765. She is most famous as Lord Nelson‘s flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. She was also Keppel‘s flagship at Ushant, Howe‘s flagship at Cape Spartel and Jervis‘s flagship at Cape St Vincent. After 1824 she served as a harbour ship.   read more…

USA 17, formerly BMW Oracle Racing 90 or BOR 90

1 August 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: Tall ships, San Francisco Bay Area, Yacht of the Month Reading Time:  10 minutes

USA 17 in the San Francisco Bay © Peter Potrowl/cc-by-sa-3.0

USA 17 in the San Francisco Bay © Peter Potrowl/cc-by-sa-3.0

USA-17 (formerly known as BMW Oracle Racing 90 or BOR90) is a sloop rigged racing trimaran built by the American sailing team BMW Oracle Racing to challenge for the 2010 America’s Cup. Designed by VPLP Yacht Design with consultation from Franck Cammas and his Groupama multi-hull sailing team, BOR90 is very light for her size being constructed almost entirely out of carbon fiber and epoxy resin, and exhibits very high performance being able to sail at 2.0 to 2.5 times the true wind speed. From the actual performance of the boat during the 2010 America’s Cup races, it can be seen that she could achieve a velocity made good upwind of over twice the wind speed and downwind of over 2.5 times the wind speed; this means that downwind she was sailing at nearly four times the speed of the true wind. She can apparently sail at 20 degrees off the apparent wind. The boat sails so fast downwind that the apparent wind she generates is only 5-6 degrees different from that when she is racing upwind; that is, the boat is always sailing upwind with respect to the apparent wind. An explanation of this phenomenon can be found in the article on sailing faster than the wind. USA 17’s homeport is the Golden Gate Yacht Club in San Francisco.   read more…

Return to TopReturn to Top