Its been a while since my last entry in this diary/blog so here is an extended entry to make up for that and also to fill you in on the exciting times that the Maltese Falcon, owner and crew have been having.
So after our first sailing trials we went back out later for the ABS trials, for people reading this who have not had this experience a short explanation. The ABS is the American Bureau of Shipping and they are a classification society, when a boat is built to ABS they will be building a boat to a set of standards that makes sure the boat is seaworthy, safe and has been built to a high standard (Hope this lessens the worry for some of you Mothers out there). So an ABS sea trial, this involves a number of tests including a crash stop, high speed course changing, running the vessel on back up systems, making sure the alarm systems work and numerous other tests which would make me fall asleep if I was reading this!!!
Just to pick up on a couple though which again make for impressive reading, the crash stop was performed twice, on both occasions it went extremely well and from full ahead at 18.5 knots to a dead stop took a minute and the Falcon travelled around 180 meters, this is really good and for the engineers down below it was a good confidence boost to see the lady perform so well.
The other test that was also impressive was the course change, to do this you again bring the vessel up to full speed 18.5 knots and then make a full hard over 35 degree change of course. So this would be like taking an articulated lorry driving at 22 mph carrying a 1000 ton load and going fully to the right whilst balancing three Nelsons columns on the back!!! For us the vessel performed like a dream, as she went into the turn the momentum carried the Falcon over to about 8 degrees and then as she kicked her heels in she popped up to around four degrees and sat there enjoying the experience as the rest of us did to.
The ABS surveyor was very happy with the trial and it was another milestone for the Falcon to have reached, as we returned to Tuzla port that evening it was good to know that in a couple of weeks the next trip would be one way as we introduce this incredible vessel to the world.
With the Falcon back in port the realisation that delivery was imminent and the lady had to be delivered come hell or high water for the first of July got us going and we ran with it big time.
It is times like this that can make or break people and crews with the long hours and stress of getting things done but, and I know this is a bit of a cliché, but as a crew it has probably made us a lot more of a team with people putting everything into getting the work done and helping each other.
So that just about brings us up to today, and if you can stand more of my lyrical prose then carry on....................
July 1st 2006, 12:00, Maltese Falcon slips her tethers, and with eight guests, sixteen crew and eight technicians, glides across Tuzla harbour on her way to join the Superyacht fleet, with an overnight anchorage on the Bosphorus as her first stop, many Turkish people commuting home got to see the Falcon for the first time, a vessel that has been frequently written about in the Turkish dailies over the last couple of weeks. A party at a local hotel was held for dignitaries to admire the boat and a fire works display illuminated the Falcon, as a final farewell from the country of her birth.
After a quiet night the anchor was weighed and we motored out of the Bosphorus and to a local bay for bunkering, 77,000 litres and two hours later (got to love big pipes) we set out across the Sea of Marmara to the Dardanelles. Ten minutes after leaving the anchorage, the buttons are pressed and three at a time the sails are set until six minutes later, fifteen sails filled with a freshening breeze pull on three carbon fibre Dynarigs rigs which transmit their power to the 1100 tons of steel, systems, water, fuel and people and all the rest of the stuff that makes a Superyacht.
Before long the propellers are feathered, shaft brakes engaged and main engines turned of and away she goes throwing water of her shoulders and making light work of a short sea, 20 knots of true wind and 14 knots of boat speed we reach across the Sea of Marmara and if smiles could be measured in Lumens well, their were thirty two people who could have lit up Twickenham!
As the evening drew in sail was shortened as a matter of safety and to allow a very tired group of people to have a proper supper and a good nights sleep, the bridge crew sailed us safely through the night with engineers standing watches below in the ECR, even with shortened sail however, (we reduced to five, course and lower topsail on the main and fore and crowjack on mizzen) the lady still romped through the night at seven knots in 9/10 knots of breeze.
Daybreak saw us coming up to the Dardanelles the entrance to the Mediterranean, the pilot was bought onboard at ten and we gracefully sailed through and out into the Med.
Today we have slid along trying different things to the sails and enjoying the sailing and now its 21:51, the wind is coming in at 22.7 kts true and the Falcon effortlessly makes 14 kts over the ground as we head towards the Western Med.
Champagne sailing, you cannot beat it!!!
Postscript: I am not a lorry driver but I am pretty certain the articulated lorry would have fallen over, then again an artic does not have 300 tons of lead underneath it!!
I hope you all have a good weekend, ciao from the crew and owner of the Maltese Falcon.
George Gill - Second Engineer
George Gill - Second Engineer