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Weather delays tow of stricken Polish ship to Falmouth


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#1 Barry McCrindle

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Posted 01 November 2010 - 10:05 AM

From the BBC news site

Quote

A gale-hit tall ship with 36 teenagers on board is expected to be towed into Falmouth later in the morning.

The Fryderyk Chopin, which lost both its masts, had been due to arrive on Sunday morning, but poor weather has slowed down the rescue.

The vessel was expected to moor on a buoy, with the crew remaining onboard overnight.

The Polish-registered ship got into trouble about 100 miles (160km) south west of the Isles of Scilly on Friday.

There have been no injuries reported among the 47 crew, which includes 36 sailing trainees, all aged 14.

The master of the Fryderyk Chopin requested immediate assistance at 0803 BST on Friday, stating they were experiencing severe weather conditions of gale force nine winds.

Newlyn-based fishing boat Nova Spero attached a line to the vessel and began towing it to shore early on Friday evening.

Coxswain Peter Hicks, of the RNLI lifeboat St Mary's, which spent 20 hours at the side of the stricken ship on Friday, said: "The ship was rolling heavily in a big swell with all the rigging hanging over the starboard side.

"If we were to take anyone off it would have had to have been on the port side in a rise and fall of over 10ft (3m).

"It was a difficult decision not to take anyone off but, basically, the people were safer on the vessel, even though it was in some sort of distress."

The ship is owned by the European School of Law and Administration, a private university based in Poland.


I always see both sides of the argument, the one that's wrong and mine.....

#2 Guest_Steve Ellwood_*

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Posted 01 November 2010 - 08:16 PM

Anyone answer me this question - why was a Trawler being used for the towing job and not an Ocean Going Tug, surely there are enough of them waiting for jobs?



#3 Barry McCrindle

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Posted 01 November 2010 - 09:56 PM

From the BBC news site

Quote

The captain of a tall ship has blamed a "freak gust" of wind for crippling his vessel.

The Fryderyk Chopin lost both its masts about 100 miles (160km) south west of the Isles of Scilly on Friday.

The vessel, which had 36 14-year-olds on board, was towed into Falmouth Bay by a tug and moored to a buoy earlier.

Captain Ziemowit Baranski said the ship was built to sail around the world and should have been able to withstand the gale-force winds

Weather delays stricken ship tow
Tall ship heading to Falmouth
He said the Polish-registered ship, which had previously sailed around Cape Horn, was hit by a freak gust on Friday.

The teenagers have been brought ashore and are expected to spend the next few nights in a hostel.

One of the adult crew members said the young people were all "in very good spirits" and wanted to continue the voyage once repairs had been made to the masts and rigging.

Teenager Natalia Galda said only adults were allowed on deck after the first mast was damaged.

"It wasn't so terrifying for us, because we didn't see what happened," she told BBC News.

"For us under the deck, life went on normally."

The Polish-registered ship got into trouble about 100 miles (160km) south west of the Isles of Scilly on Friday. It had left Holland last month on a three-and-a-half-month cruise to the Caribbean.

The ship is owned by the European School of Law and Administration, a private university based in Poland.

I always see both sides of the argument, the one that's wrong and mine.....

#4 Barry McCrindle

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Posted 01 November 2010 - 09:57 PM

Quote

Anyone answer me this question - why was a Trawler being used for the towing job and not an Ocean Going Tug, surely there are enough of them waiting for jobs?


Thats the emergency tugs they are going to scrap in the next few years Steve, they were probably following subs about just incase........
I always see both sides of the argument, the one that's wrong and mine.....

#5 markh

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Posted 02 November 2010 - 08:10 PM

Quote

Anyone answer me this question - why was a Trawler being used for the towing job and not an Ocean Going Tug, surely there are enough of them waiting for jobs?



smart skipper.  first to get a line aboard first.  decent payday when he gets back, no quota, no hassle, easy money



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