Thursday 27 August 2015

Stay at Rostock

         
            During the two day sortie from Aalborg to Rostock, the ship transited through restricted waters and dense merchant traffic. Whole of the passage was through recommended routes and the depths not more than 20-30 meters. Requirement was thus to conserve water as the Reverse Osmosis plants couldn’t be switched on. Calm seas and sunny days were a rare blessing especially for this region. We had Santa Maria Manuela, Urania, and quite a few local sailing vessels for company, as all of us were heading for Hanse Sail 2015, Rostock.
Escort Tug with Water Canon While Entering

 
 

          On 06 Aug 15, the ship commenced entry into harbour at 0800h after embarking the pilot and came alongside berth k starboard side to. Tarangini along with all the other sail training ships was berthed in the Naval Harbour. This meant lesser crowds, more space on the Jetty, and proximity to the local beach. By now the crew has gotten into a groove and the ship is ready to host visitors within no time. We were also expecting a visit from Vice Admiral Sunil Lanba Flag Officer Commanding In Chief, Southern Naval Command.
Alongside at Warnemunde Naval Harbour
          On 06 Aug 15 Vice Admiral Sunil Lanba C-in-C Southern Naval Command visited the ship. The C in C addressed the crew of the ship congratulating them for the success of the voyage so far and wished the best for upcoming events.
     Farewell Address by FOC-in-C South
 
          The ship was open for visitors during the stay at Warnemunde Naval harbour. People from all over Rostock and the surrounding towns visited the ship.
Ship Open for Visitors
 
Prospective Trainee
 
          The ship participated in the crew games conducted as part of Sail Rostock. Crew games include football and volleyball.
Crew Games – Tarangini Crew in the Centre
 
            The second batch of 88 IOTC reported onboard on 08 Aug 15. As they had only one day to get race ready and to integrate with the Team, they were immediately put through Harbour training. The Rigging Officer, Lt Kshitij Sharma, rightly remarked to them in his opening address, “The best way to see Rostock is from the ‘Royals’ of your respective masts.” And so they did, ‘See Rostock from the Royals’.
 


Harbour Training for A New Batch Of Sea Trainees
 
          Like every other port the ship hosted a reception for the local dignitaries. The guest list included the Vice Chief of German Navy Vice Admiral Brinkmann, the Lord Mayor of Rostock, the Base Commander, and Captains of various sail ships. The Commanding Officer addressed the gathering and expressed his gratitude to the hosts.
 
With Lord Mayor of Rostock and Vice Chief Of German Navy
The evening went on as the guests enjoyed Indian food, Spanish Wine, Danish Beer, Irish Whiskey in a German Naval Base, on an Indian Ship. Truly International indeed. The evening was culminated with a performance by the Sea Trainees, whose harbour training during the day included a practice session with the ship’s bugler.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 



Wednesday 12 August 2015

Tall Ship Race and Stay at Aalborg

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

Thursday 6 August 2015

Stay at Kristiansand 28 Jul - 28 Jul 15


         Before departing Plymouth the ship had Midshipmen Frederich Flood and Christopher Windle from the Britannia Royal Naval College. They were the first of many that the ship is scheduled to embark for training from many other countries. So, immediately on arrival the two Midshipmen put to task. After a welcome address by the Captain they were conducted around the ship by the Divisional Officer. Practical aspects of sailing was explained to them which included sail evolutions and the organization onboard. The midshipmen performed the duties of Midshipman of the Watch during the watches.

 
Midshipman Frederich Flood And Christofer Windle Learning Chart Work

              During the past three months the ship had been working hard to get ‘Race Ready’, both materially and as a team. The passage from Plymouth to Kristiansand gave us an opportunity to take that to whole new level. The crew was divided into two watches and the rig was pushed to its maximum limits to ascertain what best could be achieved from the ship. Excellent winds and an enthusiastic crew took this “Old Lady’ to a sustained speed of 12.5 knots with winds of 24 knots. As we wanted to test the sustainability of two watch system during the race, especially in this cold and almost always rainy climate, we continued to push. She logged an average speed of 10.7 knots for a period of three days. Every day we would spend a few hours practicing Tacks and Wears, fine tuning Race Starts and then get back to racing.
 
                                                     12.5 Knots – Fastest So Far


            The race was between the two watches. A formula was devised to ascertain which watch sailed better, after catering for, the prevailing winds, distance covered in the watch, distance covered in the direction of the next wave point, the tidal pattern and the current in the region. Watches were given some leeway in case of fog and low visibility, however rain and the bone chilling cold was no excuse.
 
                                Bow Wave At 10.7 Knots
 
          After having reached the outskirts of Kristiansand a day and a half early we used the opportunity to prepare here for the festivities alongside. She was thus bathed, painted, brassoed, greased, varnished and the bathed some more. She was finally dressed over all while the crew manned the ship’s side for ‘Man and Cheership’ during the entry into Kristiansand, which was mired with strong winds and heavy rain.
 
Sailing Full And By
 
Entering Harbour Kristiansand
 
 
            On Air Chief Marshal Nak Brown (Retd) Ambassador of India to the Kingdom of Norway visited the ship. The Ambassador had a walk around of the ship. Thereafter the ambassador 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 during his tenure as the Air Chief. On completion of the address he interacted with ship’s company and Sea Trainees.
Air Chief Marshal (Retd) Nak Brown Ambassador Of India Addressing The Crew
            A host of Crew Games were organized for the Tall Ships on 26 Jul 15 from 0900 hrs to 1200 hrs. Sea trainees and the ship’s crew actively took part in various games like beach volley, street basket and Steeplechase. To further the cause of friendship across the oceans all teams were mixed and Tarangini Team thus had Norwegians and Dutch playing as part of our team while the Sea Trainees from the ship played in their teams.
 
Beach Volley Ball as Part Of Crew Games
 
 
               A Crew Parade of all the participating ships was held from Kristiansand City Square 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.
 
Crew Parade at Kristiansand
            The crew of the ship had created a two minute continuity drill for the marching contingent. This drill was practiced at sea and then finally fine tuned on the jetty at Kristiansand. 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 has been a big hit with the spectators. Even the crew from other ships stopped during the parade to watch our drill.
 
Nishan Toli during Continuity Drill
 
 
Continuity Drill During The Crew Parade

 
Continuity Drill In Town Square
 
 
            One of the oldest ships “Shtandart” participated in the Tall Ship Race from Kristiansand to Aalborg.
One of the Oldest Ship Shtandart
 
 
 
Ship dressed Overall at Kristiansand
 
 
Sail Parade
 
Yards Man Aloft During Sail Parade
 
Lining Up For The Start Of The Race