Tall Ships: Day 1

Glory be!!

Moving at a dead sprint, I made it down to Beckholmen Island just in time to catch the grand Mexican bark Cuauhtemoc coming into Stockholm harbor.

It was an beautiful sunny morning, absolutely perfect--and then to have that incredible vessel slowly moving past with her sails clewed up, flags waving, festive Mexican music playing....

...the cadets all lined up on the yardarms saluting Stockholm... how I envied them.

It was positively amazing--the sights, the sounds, and the soft smell of the harbor... To say it was 'moving' only gives the faintest hint of the powerful sense of the sublime that swept the harbor that morning as Cuauhtemoc glided in.

But for all the glory of that moment, it was just a taste of what the next five days would bring.

Yachts, motorboats, and even a helpful harbor tug swarmed around the great white ship as she came in.

Then as she approached Gamla Stan (The old Town), the mariachi music soared to a new tenor and people began to congregate along the shoreline all around the harbor.

Cuauhtemoc was not the first ship to arrive. Two others--the Polish full-rigger Dar Mlodziezy and the Russian 4-masted bark Khruzenshtern--were already docked, having come in around 08:00.

But Cuauhtemoc still took the show. After taking a showing off along the Gamla Stan waterfront, the Cuauhtemoc swung around and came alongside the pier just behind Dar Mlodziezy and Khruzenshtern, music still chortling away. But what a display! These 'ships of olde' coming in to restore Stockholm Harbor's former maritime glory alongside the local steamer fleet (Storrskär going by in this shot).

Of course, I could not resist the temptation to immediately take the ferry across the harbor and go check out the Cuahtemoc.

When I arrived I saw an incredible model of military discipline. The deck officer in full 'Class A' dress stood atop a deckhouse between the ship's 3-inch guns wailing away on his tiny little bosun's pipe, whistling out the orders to the swarms of sailors manning the lines--all whistles; not one spoken order.

As he whistled, the men fell on the lines, heaving on the braces and swinging the huge yardarms around to port so they wouldn't get tangled up on the lampposts along the quay (and because bracing around is just good practice in port). What a rig!

No sooner had she docked than a few hands were put over the side to touch up the immaculate paint work of the hull, covering the slightest scrape from a tugboat, the pier, or other offender.

My...what a grand ship! And the music; it was wonderful!

Right down to her stunning figurehead of Cuauhtémoc himself (the Aztec ruler of the mid-1500s), every detail of the ship was maintained to absolute perfection.

Being there on the quay, I could not resist going a little further to take a look at the larger 4-masted bark Khruzenshtern from Russia. As I approached, the majesty of these truly 'tall ships' struck me hard...

...what beautiful forms these stately behemoths have, what grace and beauty in every contour...

...and what stunning complexity they hold in those massive rigs...

I decided to find a good place to spend the rest of the day reading--reading and keeping a sharp eye for incoming vessels. So I headed towards the high cliff overlooking the Cuauhtemoc, Kruzenshtern, Dar Mlodziezy, and the rest of the harbor.

On the way to the long staircase going up the face of the cliff, I found the Tall Ships Festival's volunteers undergoing a little maritime safety training--Today's lesson; how to rescue burning sailors.

...yes, that is indeed a flaming dummy soaked in kerosene.

Good job. Next!

Well, I got up on top of the cliff and found a nice patch of grass on the grounds of a monastery or divinity school or whatever it was, and settled in to watch the ships come in. Form there I also I had a great view of the Polish training ship Dar Mlodziezy.

From that vantage point I could also see all the small craft coming out to greet the tall ships, all dec'd out and ready for the biggest maritime party Stockholm has seen since the Tall Ships Race of 2002. Here a nice, gritty little tug came out with all her signal flags flying from stem to stern.

The festive welcome seemed to be appreciated by the slow parade of vessels now coming into the harbor. Most were small schooners like this one (small, ya know, like only 100-200 tons). But the fleet was beginning to arrive.

Or this modern 3-master. Note Oljex going by, the diligent little harbor tanker that is constantly coming and going to fuel one boat or another all year, day and night.

Among the 'greeters' was this great little square-sail boat resembling the standard Scandinavian ship design that dominated from the bronze age to the Vikings and are still seen fishing in northern Norway, the Faeroe Islands, and Iceland. She was flying downwind...but I wondered how she would do coming back up against it.


Then, amidst the waiting, a huge billow of black smoke came pouring out of Sankt Erik's funnel as she lit her boilers. What a thrill it was to see that; my old floating home belching with life!

After an hour or so I spotted the next pair of Tall Ships coming in--two big schooners under full sail waaaay down the channel, beating their way to windward. I could see this was going to take a while, so I returned to my museum management reading.


After a bit, they had made considerable progress and were nearing the harbor proper--and revealing that they were, in fact, topsail schooners--probably the Swedish naval officer training ships Falken and Gladan. As they got set up on another perfect tack to take them closer to the harbor, the little trans-Baltic steamer Birger Jarl came chugging along to foil their plans...

The two topsail schooners began to close on her...

...as they got got closer, it was clear that none of the vessels appeared interested in altering their course. In the last moment, Birger Jarl slipped through, the schooner on the left clearing her stern by only a few meters.

...and leaving the pair of mischevious sailing vessels astern. She had safely run the Tall Ship gauntlet.

After another half hour or so, the two topsail schooners were working their way up to Beckholmen Island, tacking one way...

...and then coming about and tacking the other way, slowly making progress against the wind.

At Beckholmen, they split...

....one heading up into the north channel towards the Vasa Museum, the other....

....heading on a southerly course straight for where I sat. Beautiful!

When she reached the foot of the cliff, she swung into the wind....

...luffing her sails...

...as she came about and set off on another tack up into the heart of the harbor.

Meanwhile, the other schooner turned back and they put on a show for the forming crowds: head to head!

They glided past each other and proceeded to spend the next hour just lazily sailing about the harbor....

...making occasional passes under my perch....

...or going past the big square-riggers along the quay.

Then, at 5:30 pm the big trans-Baltic ferry Cinderella came churning into the harbor-dwarfing even the grand Khruzenshtern--and really dwarfing the little steamer here (passenger ships have really changed in the last century, haven't they?)

Then she began to swing around and approach the terminal below me. That's when I realized I was about to lose my view.

But it was getting toward dinner time so I decided to call it a day and head home. Three grand square-riggers and two topsail schooners had come in; a mighty fine show. Most of the tall ships were not due to arrive until the next day anyway. So off I went.

I did stop by Cuauhtemoc on my way and took a tour onboard, but I'll save those details for another post--afterall, it wasn't my only visit to the Mexican Navy's floating festival.

So that was Day 1 of the Tall Ships Festival.