The Royal Swedish Navy´s sail training ship HMS Falken in Helsingborg

The Royal Swedish Navy´s sail training ship HMS Falken (40 m x 8 m) is always an imposing sight. Today the schooner, which together with its sister ship HMS Gladan, forms the Swedish Navy´s Schoonersquadron, visited Helsingborg on its way from Öckerö to Karlskrona:

HMS Falken arrives in Helsingborg this morning.

Preparing to moor.

The ship is in safe hands, with the skipper, Thomas Falk overseeing the action.

The helm of HMS Falken.

This is how the Schoonersquadron is described on the Gladan/Falken home page:

Skonertdivisionen (The Schoonersquadron) is a training and recruitment unit. The squadron consists of HMS Gladan and HMS Falken in which training is conducted with a focus on practical seamanship and navigation. Our training consists of practical and theoretical lessons that can be both physically and mentally demanding when they occur at sea with weather conditions. The special environment is brand new (sailing) for most of them. This helps to ensure that traniees can develop as an individual and as a group member.

The Royal Swedish Navy's sail training ship HMS Falken in Øresund

The Royal Swedish Navy's sail training ship HMS Falken (40 m x 8 m) was tonight going southwards in Øresund on its way to Malmö:

Polish tall ship Zawisza Czarny going northwards in Øresund

The Polish tall ship Zawisza Czarny (43 m x 8 m) was today going northwards in Øresund. Here she is passing Helsingør:

Here Zawisza Czarny is approaching Helsingør. 

Zawisza Czarny with southern Helsingør in the background.

The schooner Linden in Helsinki

The three masted schooner Linden was built in Mariehamn (Åland) in 1992. For the time being the 49 m long Linden is based in Helsinki, where it is used for charters.

The Polish sail training ship Dar Młodzieży on its way to Skagen

The Polish tall ship Dar Młodzieży is a fairly frequent - and welcome - visitor in the Sound. Today the full-rigged sail training ship (109 m x 12 m) was on its way to Skagen. Dar Młodzieży was launched in 1981 at the Gdansk shipyard, and commissioned for service in July 1982. Her home port is Gdynia.

The Mexican Navy's sail training ship Cuauhtémoc returns to Øresund

This afternoon the Mexican Navy's sail training vessel ARM Cuauhtémoc returned to Øresund after having participated in this year's Tall Ships Races in the Baltic area.
The 90 m x 12 m barque was my personal favourite among all participating tall ships.
She is now on her way to Lisbon.




ARM Cuauhtémoc and Kronborg castle.



Wind Surf - one of the largest sailing cruise ships in the world - in Øresund

The Wind Surf, flag ship of Windstar Cruises, is always a spectacular sight. Early this morning the 187 m x 20 sailing cruise ship passed by in the Sound on its way from Skagen to Copenhagen. 

The Wind Surf is a sleek,five-masted sailing yacht accommodating 
312 guests.

The Danish cruise ferry Pearl Seaways, the Wind Surf and the Norwegian
15 m x 4 m yacht Camilla meet just before Helsingør.

The Tall Ships Races in Øresund on July 8, 2013

The German brig Roald Amundsen and the Mexican barque Cuauhtémoc  at Kronborg castle, 
early on Monday morning.

Monday morning this week was like a trip over 100 years back in time in Øresund, with tens of large sailing ships on their way from Aarhus to the next leg - Helsinki - of this year's Tall Ships Races. It was an unforgettable sight to see the big ships parade in front of Hamlet's historic Kronborg castle. Below is a selection of the participating ships.

The Mexican Navy's barque Cuauhtémoc in the Sound.

Another shot of the Cuauhtémoc.

The guests on board the cruise ship Columbus 2 were able to watch the Mexican tall ship at close distance.

The "winner" of this "Øresund Tall Ships Races" was without doubt the Mexican Navy's sail training vessel ARM Cuauhtémoc. The 67.2 m x 12 m barque looked gorgeous when it passed by in the light wind, using its full sail power. 

The STS Mir approaching Kronborg.

STS Mir in front of the Kronborg castle.

The Russian full rigged three-masted training ship STS Mir (109.6 m x 14 m) is always an imposing sight. On Monday morning the Mir, which is known to be one of the fastest large sailing ships, only used a small number of its sails.

The Danish full-rigger Georg Stage close to Kronborg.

The Danish three-masted sail training ship Georg Stage -  with its 54 m length, the smallest full rigger in the world - was sailing in its home waters. 

The STS Fryderyk Chopin in the Sound on Monday morning.

This is the STS Fryderyk Chopin approaching Kronborg. The 44 m x 8 m brig, designed by the famous Polish ship designer Zygmunt Choren, was launched in 1992. 

The brig Tre Kronor af Stockholm.

The Swedish brig Tre Kronor af Stockholm (35 m x 8.25 m) and a small cargo vessel met in the Sound on Monday morning. 

The Götheborg in Øresund on Monday, July 8.

Here the Dutch general cargo ship Ostguard is about to overtake the Götheborg.

Götheborg, a replica of an 18th century Swedish East Indiaman, is the world's largest operational wooden sailing  vessel. The original Götheborg sank off Gothenburg on 12 September 1745 while approacing its home port, having returned from her third voyage to China. The construction of the replica started in 1995, and the rig was fully tested for the first time in 2005.

The Dutch topsail schooner Wylde Swan in Øresund.

After a total conversion in 2010,  the Dutch tall ship Wylde Swan became the world's largest two mast topsail schooner. The overall length of the ship is 62 m and the beam is 7.3 m. The Wylde Swan, which has a professional crew of 12, offers accommodation for 36 trainees. 

STS Tenacious approaching Kronborg. 

The STS Tenacious, which was launched in 2000, became the largest wooden tall ship built in the UK in the last 100 years. The 65 m (including bowsprit) ship is rigged as a barque with two mizzen gaffs.

The newly converted brig Morgenster.

The Dutch tall ship Morgenster was in 2008 converted to a brig. Originally she was built in 1919 as a cutter. The ship has accommodation for 36 trainees and a crew of 10.

Alexander von Humboldt II sailing in the Sound. 

The German barque Alexander von Humboldt II (65 m x 10 m) is another newly built (2011) tall ship. The ship, which replaced the 1906 training ship Alexander von Humboldt, offers sail training for person between 14 and 75 years of age. 

The Shahab Oman in the Sound on Monday morning.

The barguentine Shahab Oman (44 m x 8.5 m) was originally built as a schooner in Scotland in 1971. In 1977 the ship was sold to the Sultan of Oman, and since 1979 it serves as a sail training ship of the Royal Navy of Oman. 

The Polish schooner Zawisza Czarny sailing towards Helsinki. 

The Polish Scouting and Guiding Association's three-masted staysail schooner Zawisza Czarny is here approaching Kronborg on its way from Aarhus to Helsinki. The 42.9 m x 6.76 m ship was built in 1952 as a trawler. The conversion to a schooner was done in 1961. 

Tall ships Fryderyk Chopin and Brabander sailing in the Sound

Last night it was nice to watch two tall ships, the Polish brig Fryderyk Chopin and the Lithuanian schooner Brabander, sailing in the Sound. Both ships were heading north toward Aarhus, where the Tall Ship Races are due to begin today.

The 55 m x 8.5 m Fryderyk Chopin has since it was launched in 1992 been one of  the regulars at the Tall Ships Races.

At Helsingør the Fryderyk Chopin "raced" with this small cargo ship.

A minute or two later, it was clear which one was the "winner" ....

With (almost) full sails towards Aarhus ....

The Lithuanian schooner Brabander approaching Helsingør. It looks like it would be  squeezed  between two of the Scandlines ferries, but luckily the ship was still a little bit further away ....

The Brabander passing Hamlet's Kronborg castle.

The Klaipeda University acquired Brabander from its Dutch owner in 2006. The ship , which now serves as a training and research vessel, was built in 1977. 

The "original" sail training ship Georg Stage

A picture of the first sail training ship Georg Stage
(photograped before the collision in 1905).

The present Danish sail training ship Georg Stage (launched in 1934), one of the the "regulars" at international tall ship races, had a predecessor carrying the same name. The original Georg Stage, (launched in 1882) was somewhat smaller than the present one, with a length of 36 m, compared to 54 m of the successor. The ship had a crew of 80 sailors in training an 10 officers. 

On 25 June 1905 Georg Stage collided with the English steamship Ancona in Øresund, not far from Copenhagen, causing the death of 22 sailors in training. 

The damage was not as extensive as was first thought.

The sunken ship was not as badly damaged as first thought, and it could be raised and repaired. The first Georg Stage continued as a training ship until 1934, when it was replaced by the present ship with the same name. 

The famous Australian novelist, adventurer and Master Mariner Allan Villiers bought the full-rigger, thus saving it from the scrapyard. Villiers renamed the ship Joseph Conrad, after the famous Polish novelist, and embarked on a tour around the globe which lasted for two years. (Villiers described the tour in two books, The Cruise of the 'Conrad' and Stormalong). 

In 1936 Villiers went into bankruptcy and had to sell the ship to the American millionaire George Huntington Hartford, who used it as a personal yacht for three years. In 1939 the Maritime Commission of USA aquired the Joseph Conrad, which again become a training ship, serving until 1945. Two years later the original Georg Stage reached its final destination, the Museum of America and the Sea, Mystic Seaport in Connecticut, where it still continues to educate visitors about the rich history of sail.