Under 36,000 sq. ft. of sail.

[Errol Chandler]

Best cruising ever.
Star Clipper (twice) Star Flyer (once).
1st cruise was from Cannes for 7 nights and back to Cannes after calling at about 6 really small harbours...some little more than fishing ports.
2nd cruise was Istanbul to Athens. 7 nights of fantastic sailing on Turkish coast and through the Greek islands
3rd cruise was an "in tandem" cruise with Star Flyer sailing alongside us...7 nights from Limassol (Cyprus) to Athens.
Every time our gleaming white clipper ship passes one of the ordinary cruise liners they nearly capsize as their passengers rush to the rails to stare in awe at the magnificent sight as we sail by.
Arrival in any port always causes a sensation.
On the tandem cruise the captains competed with each other and arrival under sail into Rhodes harbour and alongside was awesome..... they handled the ships like sailing boats on a lake.
120 passengers, 100 crew.
This is not a working cruise....just sit back, drink in hand, and watch the crew sweat over the 36,000 sq ft. of sails!
In an out of tiny harbours that the floating hotels never see.
Superb food. 1st class accommodation.
I will never set foot on one of the big ships.

[Ivan Cloherty]

Errol

what can we say, you are making us all green with envy.

Unfortunately a State Pension will not allow a change of colour

[Errol Chandler]

Maybe I should have added that those three cruises were spread over 15 years.
Cost is about 30% more per day than the big liners want, but well worth saving for and not taking any holidays in between.
Wish I could afford it annually!! But no way.

[Captain Kong]

I did a four week cruise on a sailing ship in 1958.
I was shanghaied in Curacao on a Topsle schooner, drinking with the Dagos and got legless on the rum went back on board and woke up at sea and returned to Curacao four weeks later after doing the Venezualan coast and some of the islands. The story is in Seafaring yarns thread.
I loved it, I did have to learn real fast how to handle a sailing ship. but good fun with the crew of Venezualans.
I did a trip on the Leeuwin, a sailing ship out of Fremantle for a day which meant leaping aloft furling sail along the yards. etc. good fun.
Something special about a ship sailing with no engine sounds. nice.
Cheers
Brian.

[EIFION]

If you ever find yourself in Conway North Wales, take a look at the schooner "Pickle" 93ft loa and the bowsprit is a third of the ships length Never sailed as a passenger on her though....my son owns her so to date I have been Master, Mate , Cook, Engineer, carpenter and whatever else he wants at the time

[Errol Chandler]

I will make a note of that! Would love to see her. Does he give trippers a taste of sea under sail?

[corrientes]

I had a home in Rhodes for some 20 years and can agree that it is a fine sight to see those vessels with sail up in suitable weather. I spent many hours with a glass in hand watching them and others come and go.
The sails may be up but the disturbed water around the stern when coming alongside may give a clue as to how they manage it so perfectly.

[Errol Chandler]

You are probably right, but they kept most of the sails up until alongside.... of course it would be very dependent on the wind.
One evening before dinner the captain said he expected a bit of a blow that night. After dinner passengers were enjoying the bar when suddenly large brown drops started falling on the deck....it was raining mud .....apparently the wind off the Sahara desert picks up the sand, carries it aloft where it mixes with water vapour and falls as blobs of mud....then the wind suddenly struck us and the Star Clipper heeled over and was cutting through the water like a racing yacht....it was announced that we were doing 14 knots.

[Louis the Amigo]

Hi shipmates, sailing the old way is a much younger mans game, I have been on a few of them tall ships, on the around the world race lovely to look at but to work on? The russian ship cant remember its name The crew are all cadets young men and women ,who live work and eat together on a diet of vodka and cabbage soup and bread . you do not dare disobey orders or be late on your watch or its up the rigging you go on the rat lines by your fingers tips in the rain, snow, hail at sea or ashore for a long time depends on your deed . These young people are the cream of the russian crop the future top brass in the russian armed forces ,They training was based on our british jack tars Royal navy of bygone years, so I was told by an officer, who spoke good english but without the cat of nine tails{, Not Allowed } I often wonder what would happen if this was the new prison system, for our many criminals in the U.K. would our jails still be full?

[happy daze john in oz]

We had two 'Tall ships' here in Melbourne a couple of years ago, both French. Thousands turned out to see them and though we were not allowed aboard many of us stood there in amazement at how such vessels get around. These were big by the standards of the days when the first fleet arrived here in Oz.