THE VOYAGES ON PEGASUS & JOHANNA LUCRETIA AT DARTMOUTH CLASSICS 2021
The 2021 voyages were for just six days as the Classic Channel Regatta to France had to be cancelled, and the crews were spread over two boats, all due to Covid restrictions on travel and numbers on board.
We are happy to say that, judging by the feedback from the trainees, the voyages on Pegasus and Johanna Lucretia at Dartmouth Classics and the passage race to Fowey have been highly successful. All the trainees appear to have had a very enjoyable and beneficial experience, and all are very complimentary about the professional skippers and mates. Highlights of the trainees feedback are given below.
And here is an extract from the email the skipper of Johanna Lucretia sent us soon after retiring from the race to Fowey due to lack of wind:
” just to notify you that JL has retired at 0745 this morning in a position 6nm due S of Salcombe. With no wind or steerage we were vanishing back to Start Point on the tide and a kamikaze trawler obliged us to stick the engine on anyway, so we figured we’d throw the towel in.
We’ve had an excellent race to this point, with one of the best ‘sail training’ night passages I can remember in a long time. The sailing was excellent right up until first thing this morning, and by getting offshore as we stemmed the tide, there was plenty to see, monitor on radar and avoid. The Milky Way was stunning, we saw shooting stars, and compass checked by sunset and sunrise; have seen dolphins and a minke whale. The young people have all managed to get up for their watches and partaken in all the steering and decision making, and one of my highlights of the night was tacking the schooner in complete darkness with the mate off watch and the young folk all knowing exactly what they were doing with zero moonlight.
This morning, as the watch was called for breakfast upon spending the night “crossing the channel”, we have had croissants, chocolate chaud and played the allo allo theme tune to commemorate seeing the day in. All a bit whacky, but they’ve had fun with it.”
All I ask is a Tall Ship and a star to steer her by… and croissants for breakfast! What a wonderful experience for these young people, many of whom hadn’t been to sea before.
It is interesting to note that all the crew of Johanna Lucretia said they would like a longer trip – something that can be so beneficial, but is financially out of reach for all but a few. Our 2022 voyage aboard Pegasus will be for nine nights, so will fulfil that wish.
