Josefine ‘Star of the Sea’
Somerset-based wooden sailing boat, Josefine, has had an eventful year so far. Not only has the Danish ship turned seventy-five years old, but also, she’s started her first season offering charters and trips all around the South west, Pembrokeshire and Southern Ireland. And she’s now the star of a new film following Josefine’s adventure to the Milford Seafair Haven this summer.
Custodian and skipper, Charles Atkinson, set sail on his venture almost two years ago when he first decided life on the sea offered a welcome alternative to his Oxford Ironwork business. 2006 marks the culmination of a great deal of preparation including rigorous testing of Josefine to ensure she’s seaworthy, and of Charles, to become a commercially endorsed yacht master – not to mention the search for crew. Charles says: ““My Ironwork business eventually became the victim of it’s own success.
“I had in excess of two years worth of orders on my books and found I never had any time for my family or myself.
“I considered moving abroad but eventually asked myself – what would I really like to be doing? And the answer was, I’d like to sail a fine ship.
“We can now take people onboard and out sailing which is what I’ve wanted from the offset so I intend to make the most of being able to share her with as many other people as possible.”
The main function of Josefine is to offer team-building voyages for companies and individuals who’d like to learn traditional sailing techniques. Charles considers it essential for us not to lose these skills. He says: “As a society, we need to know about how things were done yesterday in order to do things effectively today.
“The other vital thing about sailing is that it offers a way of travelling all over the world using little or no fuel and being virtually self-sufficient on your own Island.”
The environmental factor is important to Charles and his crew and they all flag this reason up as to why they enjoy sailing, particularly on Josefine. Alongside training people to sail Josefine, the Sailjosefine crew also host wedding receptions, artists’ days and fishing trips. In addition, Josefine will be used for producing footage for use on television and film and has her own film crew available when required.
M/F
Josefine’s sailed at least a million nautical miles – that is the equivalent distance of thirty-eight and a half times around the world or to the moon and back twice. She became Charles’ boat in 2003. The sixty-six foot, oak on oak boat was built in Denmark by ship-builders, Andersen and Ferdinandsen and officially registered for the first time in 1931. Rigged as a gaff ketch, Josefine was used for ring seine fishing in the Baltic and North Sea for forty years. The boat would be away for several weeks at one time before returning to port. However, her fishing days drew to a close as she was re-commissioned and used as a sail-training ship in Denmark for almost fifteen years before being re-registered under the British Flag in 1989. She was then relocated to the south coast of England and completely rebuilt and refitted. After this, and for a brief time, Gibraltar was her home until Charles became the proud owner of the ship. His first challenge was to find her a new home in South West England. After a number of stops on the way, she eventually arrived in Watchet, a coastal harbour town in West Somerset, which is now the permanent home of Josefine. She officially conforms to the M.C.A. codes of practice category 2, for up to 60 miles offshore.
Sail Josefine – Pembroke is released at the end of November this year. It follows the journey of Josefine and her crew to Milford Haven and features information about sailing techniques, charting courses across the Bristol Channel and spectacular footage of the Welsh and Somerset coast plus highlights of the Milford Seafair Haven 2006.
More details about Josefine and how to get your copy of Sail Josefine - Pembroke can be found at http://www.sailjosefine.com/webmail/redir.php?http://www.sailjosefine.com/webmail/redir.php?http://www.sailjosefine.com/ or call 07971 376172 for more information.
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
Saturday, August 19, 2006
Fowey to Falmouth - August 4th 2006
Fowey to Falmouth – August 4th 2006 (Cheryl)
I arrived at Fowey, after an hour’s drive from Falmouth – the destination to which we’d be aiming for by sea today. Fowey a meandering, twisting town was busy with shopkeepers and locals preparing themselves for a day trading since it’s high summer and the tourists are still coming. A still, sunny morning – the atmosphere reminded me of holidays on the South Coast of Cornwall as a child. I was joining Josefine and the crew on one leg of their tour of the Southwest – they’d already been to sea festivals at Mousehole and Plymouth and visits to the Isles of Scilly and South Wales.
Charles arrived right on time and after a short float across the harbour to the pontoons, I reached the Josefine who was squished in between a number of other classic boats all slowly getting ready for the race to Falmouth in between banter between each other. Laura was checking the charts (not maps) and Ian was waking up – so there were five of us altogether. I felt a bit guilty for not really doing very much except waving my microphone about trying to capture the sounds of the ropes and traditional creaks of the ship as the sails went up – calmly at first and then with urgency as Charles’ son George counted down the minutes until we had to go. Thanks to the lack of wind; as we left Fowey, I did wonder if we were actually drifting backwards but as we left the shelter of the land the speed picked up and Josefine looked fantastic. I was really impressed.
I have to admit to being quite worried about being seasick! So for the first few hours of the journey I sat at the back of the boat and barely moved as Josefine wobbled up and down. I also have to admit, that, not really in the spirit of a true sailor, I had hoped for the sea to be like a pond! But there really had been no need to worry and by the time I heard there was an hour until we got to Falmouth, I’d forgotten about my concerns and didn’t give seasickness another thought.
Before that though, after some lunch and having found my sea legs, Charles let me steer (not sure if there’s a sailing term for that but you’ll know what I mean) and I managed to almost hit a lobster pot – which did take some expensive fishing tackle – oops. I still don’t know if Charles went back for it the next day. But, apart from the lobster pot incident, I enjoyed being at the helm.
We finished the race in approx five and a half hours and then made our way into Falmouth where I tried to convince George I lived in Pendennis Castle as we passed it – needless to say the story didn’t wash. But I did like seeing Falmouth from the sea and trying to spot the different landmarks. Josefine was anchored up and after another short ride on the little boat, and a stop at the petrol station in the sea, we eventually reached the land. Quite windswept and having caught the sun, I was really satisfied with a fantastic day on such a lovely sailing ship. So, my first trip aboard Josefine – well, the brochures were correct – you really do experience the sights and sounds of a traditional sailing ship and it’s better than words can describe. I wonder if I can enter my own competition to win a cruise on the Bristol Channel!
Check back soon for news from the crew on the rest of the Southwest tour including the Sea Salts and Sail Festival at Mousehole, the Henri Lloyd Falmouth Week and the Plymouth Classic Boat Rally.
I arrived at Fowey, after an hour’s drive from Falmouth – the destination to which we’d be aiming for by sea today. Fowey a meandering, twisting town was busy with shopkeepers and locals preparing themselves for a day trading since it’s high summer and the tourists are still coming. A still, sunny morning – the atmosphere reminded me of holidays on the South Coast of Cornwall as a child. I was joining Josefine and the crew on one leg of their tour of the Southwest – they’d already been to sea festivals at Mousehole and Plymouth and visits to the Isles of Scilly and South Wales.
Charles arrived right on time and after a short float across the harbour to the pontoons, I reached the Josefine who was squished in between a number of other classic boats all slowly getting ready for the race to Falmouth in between banter between each other. Laura was checking the charts (not maps) and Ian was waking up – so there were five of us altogether. I felt a bit guilty for not really doing very much except waving my microphone about trying to capture the sounds of the ropes and traditional creaks of the ship as the sails went up – calmly at first and then with urgency as Charles’ son George counted down the minutes until we had to go. Thanks to the lack of wind; as we left Fowey, I did wonder if we were actually drifting backwards but as we left the shelter of the land the speed picked up and Josefine looked fantastic. I was really impressed.
I have to admit to being quite worried about being seasick! So for the first few hours of the journey I sat at the back of the boat and barely moved as Josefine wobbled up and down. I also have to admit, that, not really in the spirit of a true sailor, I had hoped for the sea to be like a pond! But there really had been no need to worry and by the time I heard there was an hour until we got to Falmouth, I’d forgotten about my concerns and didn’t give seasickness another thought.
Before that though, after some lunch and having found my sea legs, Charles let me steer (not sure if there’s a sailing term for that but you’ll know what I mean) and I managed to almost hit a lobster pot – which did take some expensive fishing tackle – oops. I still don’t know if Charles went back for it the next day. But, apart from the lobster pot incident, I enjoyed being at the helm.
We finished the race in approx five and a half hours and then made our way into Falmouth where I tried to convince George I lived in Pendennis Castle as we passed it – needless to say the story didn’t wash. But I did like seeing Falmouth from the sea and trying to spot the different landmarks. Josefine was anchored up and after another short ride on the little boat, and a stop at the petrol station in the sea, we eventually reached the land. Quite windswept and having caught the sun, I was really satisfied with a fantastic day on such a lovely sailing ship. So, my first trip aboard Josefine – well, the brochures were correct – you really do experience the sights and sounds of a traditional sailing ship and it’s better than words can describe. I wonder if I can enter my own competition to win a cruise on the Bristol Channel!
Check back soon for news from the crew on the rest of the Southwest tour including the Sea Salts and Sail Festival at Mousehole, the Henri Lloyd Falmouth Week and the Plymouth Classic Boat Rally.
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