Feel like a trip around Cape Horn?

Feel like a trip around Cape Horn?  By ship?  Then this video is for you.  Absolutely amazing footage.  I can't believe the Veronika was even out in that weather.  Don't forget to pause at 1:08 .... bloody marvelous !!!

Meanwhile, watch the frigate disappear behind waves around the 3:00 mark:

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=T4FIS1FnOQg

Sadly, the old girl, Veronika, is now retired.  She was 20.83m in length and 115 tonne.  That certainly puts the size of those waves into perspective

Last photos:

2007

... and 2010

If only I had the money to save the old girl ....

Cheers

The_Ghan

spectacular footage. having grown up on my father's ship ive gone through some storms on ships and boats and its quite an experience. makes roller coasters feel like a sunday ride! makes you feel very very very very small.

the veronika is the north sea style hull with lots of beam, high and wide prow, and fat center of gravity to keep them on top of the waves rather than going through them (like a cork). this keeps stuff on deck from being washed away (like crew), but this makes for quite the wild pitch, roll, and yaw ride, very dramatic. A friend in alaska had a 57' like this and we rode out a few pretty nasty storms in it, but it putted right through, well over, things! my dad's ship was more like a destroyer and would go thru the waves more. different type of drama! it came back form one trip up above the Arctic circle with the pilot house roof shortened by an inch. it got slammed on top of the pilot house with a few breakers that the ship went thru but the crest broke on pilot house roof.

i learned growing up, never buy a boat, have friends with boats... i made a lot of my money growing up scraping, sanding, varnishing/painting, then go to the bank, repeat...

jeff

Jeff,

Amongst other things, my firm designs marinas.  So I get what you're talking about.

When it comes to your advice about never owning a boat, I can't agree more.  These days a 30'er will set you back at least $10k per foot, new.  A 50'er will probably be closer to $20k per foot.  The cost rate per foot goes up with every foot added. In Sydney, mooring is currently running at $30k p.a. on the Harbour and around $25k on any of the rivers in the metro area.  And fuel?  Well, a leisurly day on Sydney Harbour will probably cost you 400 litres at $1.50 per litre.  If you're into game fishing expect a four figure diesel bill.

Gawd, I feel so comfortable about the money I spend on trains now !!!!

Cheers

The_Ghan

I am going to show this video to a LOT of people....how the heck did they even film it?!

Good question Bernard, I'm guessing a chopper for a lot of them as I doubt you could keep things that well framed unless it was from a SWATH ship! I did a lot of shooting from boats for research and keeping things framed with any sea is really impossible. I tried steady cam jr but just doesn't work with the ocean motion other than helping to keeping the horizon level.

But it's mostly slomo short clips so the may have just chosen the best segments where they got a bit perfect. Also may be cropped and motion stabilized in post.

Jeff!

Ghan, 

and that's not including the killer upkeep and depreciation! Nothing depreciates like a boat... Boat supply stores made designer clothing stores look reasonable!

Jeff

Jeff,

You're right there too.  I've lost track of the cost to properly careen and ant-foul a vessel these days.  Slips alone would have to be around $500 per day.  Then there's the labour and materials.  Sheesh !!!

And don't pretend the bikini babes come free either ...

Cheer

The_Ghan

Ghan,

I try to not even know the costs anymore, its a waking nightmare! I have good friends that own and run boats for a business and even there where you can write everything off its still a nightmare, real labor of love! you know the old adage the hole in the water to burn $100s over.

babes are the cheap part of the deal! With all my younger years of hanging around boats and ships I never saw the chick thing really happening, i guess maybe over at the luxury yachts and the old spice commercials (if you are at sea for even a few days you understand why the very strong smell of old spice)! Usually around the boats i was pretty grungy from scraping/sanding/painting/bilge cleaning/changing oil/fixing heads/etc that they probably tried stay as far away as possible! probably works better as the pickup line at the bar, but then you dont actually have to have the boat unless you get lucky...

jeff

ship i grew up on

jeff

Jeff,

Nice lines.  She looks like she pulls a leisurely 7-8 knots.  More a coastal or estury type vessel though, isn't she?  I'll bet she'd take a lot of water over the bow in a storm, and I'd want foot-high sills on those promenade doors, mate!

You must forgive me for laughing at the oversized satelite dish and antenna ... so American!  For me, one of the joys of boating has been to avoid those kinds of things.  I'd even turn the squawker off if it wasn't illegal.

Cheers

The_Ghan

she was built in 1929 by a banker as a love gift for the movie star constance bennett (if you know her you are really dated!). yes a round bottom so she rolled well, but she had been around cape horn and up above the arctic circle and survived! does cut though waves though with that cutter bow! yes she did have foot high sills on all door ways (except on the fan tail they were only 6"!)

beautiful old lines. she went into government service as a coast patrol in wwII then later in the 50-60s was turned into an upper atmospheric research ship for sri. basically a spook ship monitoring all the us and french blasts in the south pacific, tracking missle shots by all sides going into the south pacific and trying to see if they could do long distance communications off the ionopshere while h bombs were going off. needless to say those are not the usual radar and radio antennas. but was great as a kid as she had a wonderfully tricked out electronics shop to play in! plus every ssb and ham know to man at the time! i was talking all over the world by age 5...

in the 70s she became an oceanographic research ship for the naval post graduate school in monterey ca. then she was outfitted with cranes, booms and winches and every form of navigation known to man which i would master as soon as a new one was put on board. best way to make sure it works is let the 13year old try and use it. i got too good with it and learned not to go on any station trips where they were doing surveys or i would be plotting nav points every waking moment...

she then was a private research ship in the 80s and 90s doing humpback whale and other research. i worked on her then a bit doing whale work. sadly been neglected the last decade and recently sold a couple of times, hopefully the current new owner will have some deep pockets and restore her to a yacht again! her sister ship and another very close one were both restored beautifully!

http://acania.net/

http://www.missanncharters.com/?page=history

jeff

Hmmm,

You have had an interesting life.  Was your father First Mate Woody?

Suddenly, a Braden M6-15 strapped to the back of the vessel makes some sense!

I don't know when you were aboard, but you might have known Lambert Dolphin ... 1959'ish?

Cheers

The_Ghan

(sneaky bastard)

You found lambert's site. Yes woody is my father, he was first mate for two years the captain for another 21 years. I was first aboard at 6 weeks old in American Samoa in 61. Knew the Sri crowd as a kid. The ship would be out in the south pacific for 4 months during the summer and the rest of the year in Oakland ca where we lived aboard and the ship was readied for the next year's trip. No front or back yard or park, but a bow, fantail and dock to play in till I was 11.

Jeff

As a Christian I find Lambert's site very interesting.

Cheers,

The_Ghan