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Ship Sails for Survivor
« on: Jun 18th, 2006, 1:51pm » |
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Ship Sails for Survivor
Cook Island News - 6.7.06
The 85-foot sailing ship R Tucker Thompson is headed to Rarotonga from New Zealand for a key role in the Survivor Cook Islands reality television show.
The exotic sailing vessel struck out for the Cook Islands within hours of celebrations ending in Northland at the weekend after she was gifted to the youth of the region.
The R Tucker Thompson-based at Opua in the Bay of Islands-has been donated by its owner and skipper, Russell Harris, to a charitable trust to be used for sail-training by the young people of Tai Tokerau.
The vessel, described on the organisation's website as a working replica of a Halibut Schooner, was launched at Mangawhai in 1985. Since then, she has crossed seven oceans and carried 70,000 people.
In Rarotonga it is expected that the Survivor contestants will probably board the tall ship for an overnight voyage to Aitutaki, and at daybreak make for shore of the various motu aboard four small boats, with cameras on the helicopter and boats grabbing some fantastic footage.
Highlights of the ship's log include a voyage from London to Sydney as part of a fleet re-enacting the arrival of the first convict ships, for Australia's bicentenary.
Mr. Harris, a former farmer, first saw the ship when it was still a steel hull. Then the builder, Tucker Thompson, a Californian sailor, died suddenly, leaving his dream of a sailing schooner unfinished.
So Mr. Harris, along with Mr. Thompson's son and a host of friends, rose to the challenge and continued the work.
On Sunday, she began a new chapter. Anglican cleric Ben Te Haara blessed the R Tucker Thompson as she set off from Russell to Opua to be formally handed over to the youth of Northland as a training ship.
Mr Harris says he could have sold the R Tucker Thompson. But he says by gifting her to a charitable trust, which he will head, his labour of love stays in Northland. And he still gets to do what he loves: teach young people to sail a tall ship.
Mr Harris says there are life skills learned in sailing that change people.
He says youngsters considered unemployable have gone on to find jobs after a stint on the ship, and many of those he's trained have gone on to become qualified mariners.
Despite charter work, Mr Harris says it hasn't been easy as a small operator to keep the ship afloat financially, and he hopes the training trust will have more luck with funding.
The R Tucker Thompson will still do charter work-running day sails and heritage cruises in the Bay of Islands. She is certified to carry 45 passengers on day charters.
With her upswept bow and full sails, the R Tucker Thompson plowing boldly through the seas looks for all the world like she has just sailed in from the 19th century.
She is a Tall Ship, the romantic definition of which is: a sailing ship whose sails can be seen over the horizon before you see the ship. As she draws near, her wind filled sails creates a feeling of majesty, awe and wonderment.
She is a gaff rigged, square tops'l schooner. Gaff rigged means that her mainsail has four sides; square tops'l refers to the two square topsails. Schooner, in this case, means that of her two masts, the forward mast is shorter than the aft. She has an overall length of 26 metres (85 feet), a beam of 4.9 metres (16 feet), draft of 2.6 metres (8 feet 6 inches), and displacement of 60 tonnes.
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