Yo-o heave ho!

The Alva was tied up at the north pier today, what a beauty. Built in 1939 in Sweden, originally as a sailing cargo ship for the Baltic. After 50 years as a cargo vessel, she was converted to a passenger ship. At 44 metres in length, she has three huge masts carrying 600 square feet of sail.

Now Alva is a teaching vessel at a Swedish maritime school. The students are studying marine biology, leadership and communication, and marine engineering. Each student spends 2 months of the 3 year programme on board the Alva.

I happened to stop by just as these two were trying to shift the sail at the end of the bow sprit on the Alva. I think these foremost sails are called jibs, but don't quote me. Someone will no doubt know. Anyhow, with much heaving and tugging, the sail failed to budge and one of the two decided to come back on deck. There was a moment when she was simply walking the bow sprit, with nothing to hang on to. Now that is scary. The other one promptly laid back and had a snooze. That pic is on blipfolio if you'd like to take a look, folio Boats.