Odfjell nr 3 - 2005.indd

Hoist the sail!Odfjell in SAIL Amsterdam 2005One of the largest maritime events inthe world, SAIL Amsterdam 2005, tookplace on August 17-22nd. Amsterdamhas, for the seventh time and with fiveyears intervals, been a lively expositionof sailing heritage and nautical wealthas 21, mostly classic, tall-ships from allover the world and over 600 historicsailing and motor ships have visited theAmsterdam Ij-haven.The Omani training ship Shabab Oman,built in 1971, 52 metres long and thelargest wooden ship that is still active,also participated. To honour the ties betweenOdfjell and Oman, some of thestaff at Odfjell in Rotterdam escortedthis ship during the arrival of the tallshipson the stretch from the North Seaat Ijmuiden in to Amsterdam. This Paradeof Sail is the spectacular highlightof the six-days event. Thousands andthousands of ships on the water, rangingfrom multi-million dollar yachts tocrafts better described as “flotsam”.“We wanted to charter the Oosterschelde,but unfortunately she was alreadyemployed” tells OTR’s Theo Kruithof,organizing this trip together with FritsBesides a number of Dutch tall-ships,like “our” Rotterdam based Oosterschelde,the Stad Amsterdam, the Europaand the Eendracht, impressivewindjammers from Norway, Russia,Rumania, Ukraine, Italy, Poland and anumber of other countries participated.All beautiful ships like the Bergen basedStatsraad Lehmkuhl, the Sørlandet, theSedov, and the Khersones, to mentionjust a few. Apart from the tall-ships, allkind of replicas could be seen in Amsterdam.For the first time famous modernsailing yachts were invited, such as the60 feet off-shore racing trimaran Bonduelle.For further details, please seehttp://www.sail.nl/The Odfjell crowd on board the “Helena”de Goede on behalf of OTR. “Insteadwe secured the stevenaak Helena, a 35meter river cargo ship originating from1875, and invited some customers andrelations to experience Sail 2005 fromthe first row, taking part in the Paradeof Sail. Our 35 strong party enjoyed thegreat weather, entertainment and mostimportant – the spectacular show on thewater”. According to official numbers,Sail Amsterdam 2005 attracted over 2.5million spectators.Sail though, is more than just the parade:the public may visit the tall-ships,there are all kinds of demos, culturalevents, exhibitions, fireworks eachnight and, last but not least, the SailOut when crews and public wave goodbye,to meet again in 2010. Theo oncemore: “I’ll be there then, one way or theother”.From the Parade of Sail22 ODFJELL Quarterly October 2005