Sailing training ship "Gorch Fock" sets course for the Canary Islands

The sail training ship "Gorch Fock" leaves its home port of Kiel at 10 a.m. on 19 November 2021 to set off on its first training voyage abroad after a long stay in the shipyard. Under the command of Captain Nils Brandt (55), the white three-master with a total of around 120 crew members is heading for the Canary Islands. The sailing training ship's scheduled departure a week ago was delayed due to contamination of the fresh water, which had to be cured as a matter of priority.

Grow sea legs

Apart from a stopover in Lisbon (Portugal), the "Gorch Fock" will set a direct course for the Canary Island of Tenerife. This destination was chosen in order to give the regular crew and sailing crew the opportunity, after a long break from the shipyard, to get back into the swing of things and master all sailing manoeuvres, at least in seasonally favourable weather conditions. The ship is moored in the harbour of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, the capital of Tenerife, for Christmas and the turn of the year.

Officer training in Törns

Around 220 officer candidates for the 2021 crew will gain their first practical experience on board the tall ship as part of their "basic seamanship training", divided into two "cruises" (stages). The course participants will learn the basic nautical skills and experience the importance of teamwork and camaraderie in daily practice. The first group of cadets will embark in Santa Cruz de Tenerife on 3 January 2022 and will initially undergo preliminary sailing training in port. In mid-January, the "Gorch Fock" sets sail with this crew and sails towards the Mediterranean. The journey continues via the harbour of Valencia to Málaga (Spain). There, the first cruise is disembarked after around eight weeks and the second group of cadets is taken on board. After completing their preliminary sailing training, they will then return to Kiel via Brest (France) at the beginning of March, where the ship is expected to return to its home port on 25 March 2022. The ship and crew will then have travelled around 10,000 nautical miles.

Nice to know

Since its commissioning in December 1958, around 15,000 officer and non-commissioned officer candidates have been trained on the planks of the "Gorch Fock". In the course of her training voyages, she has visited around 390 harbours in almost 60 countries on five continents, covering more than 750,000 nautical miles, the equivalent of 35 circumnavigations of the globe. It is also expected to be the last voyage of the commander of the "Gorch Fock", Captain Nils Brandt, who will hand over command of the sail training ship at the end of March 2022 after almost seven years in command.