The sail training ship, the barque Piction Castle, sailed from Lunenburg, Nova Scotia this morning, bound for Grenada, then through the Panama Canal on a voyage to the South Pacific. To follow the Picton Castle on her voyage click here.
The Picton Castle, captained by Daniel Moreland, is a 179′ long, three-masted steel barque, with a riveted steel hull, setting 12,500 square feet (1,160 m2) of sail. The ship has accommodations for 12 professional crew and 40 sail trainees. The ship has circumnavigation the world five times.
Farewell to Nova Scotia, the sea-bound coast. . .
I wish fair winnds to capt. Dan Moreland and the PICTON CASTLE — She’s one of my favourite barques, and I love her programme, which is real sail training for bona fide trainees. Love-bird couples, families, small kids, zombies, bellybuttonsunburners, winojammers, loafers and other passenger types are explicitly banned.
But, gulp, voyage fee CAN$ 36,000… Given the self-imposed market restrictions, how does Dan find enough paying participants?
One sincerely hopes that she has a safe and successful voyage. She will if there is professional decision-making based on a protocol incorporating all the safety parameters of going to sea under sail. Not the least of these is a fully licensed Ocean Master and Watchofficers who have proven their ability UNDER SAIL to the Maritime Authorities. The Sail Training Organisation and its ships cannot survive another disaster at sea. It seems quite ridiculous that some of us acting as mentor/consultants have to browbeat to encourage STO people to prepare professionally to save their own lives at sea under sail – sadly we do. Good Watch.
By way of background, the barque Picton Castle is fully certified by the US Coast Guard as Sail Training Vessel for worldwide service. The Picton Castle was named the Sail Training Program of the Year in 2006 by Tall Ships America (then ASTA.) In 2011, Capt. Daniel Moreland, was named Sail Trainer of the Year by Sail Training International.
Rick, I couldn’t find Picton Castle in the US Coast Guard certification lists and I doubt that she’s been thus certified – the reason she’s registered in the Cook Islands, rather than Canada, is so that she is not subject to the stringent requirements imposed by any of the North American maritime authorities. As for awards, Picton Castle won the ASTA award in 2006 for being unique in offering a round-the-world sail training. Fairly won, but not a comment on the quality of training offered – merely it’s ocean-going nature. Having just sailed with Capt. Moreland from Sydney to Auckland, I have no idea how he won “Sail Trainer of the Year” in 2011. He seemed entirely disinterested in that aspect of the voyage.
Thanks for your comments. Very interesting. I went back to see if I could find the basis for my prior comment. The Tall Ships America page for the Picton Castle includes the following: Coast Guard Certification – Other: Sail Training Vessel for worldwide service. I suspect what that effectively means is that the USCG accepts the Cook Island certification. So my previous statement was in error.