Sail Training vessel “Statsraad Lehmkuhl” sails around St.Martin

by Jan Roosens 31 Oct 12:29 AEDT

Statsraad Lehmkuhl © Jean Jarreau and Caribbean Sail Training

The “Statsraad Lehmkuhl”, one of the more than 70 member vessels of the non profit association Caribbean Sail Training sailed unexpectedly to St.Martin on her trip from Europe to Curaçao.

The vessel had crossed the Atlantic and was sailing south, close to Trinidad, when the Captain decided to sail up North to the Leeward Islands and do a “fly by” around St.Martin because with the Tradewinds blowing quite strong they would have arrived to early in the ABC Islands and Curaçao.

The special trip to St.Martin gave the ship also the opportunity to arrange a photo shoot trough Caribbean Sail Training with St.Martin based photographer Jean Jarreau.

The “Statsraad Lehmkuhl “is supposed to arrive in Willemstad Curaçao on November 04, 2021.

With the ongoing Covid restrictions and regulations, the vessel preferred not to moor or dock here as they are now in their own safe “bubble” since departing the Trans Atlantic crossing and remaining on board with no visitors until their arrival in Curaçao.

Caribbean Sail Training’s president Jan Roosens said that he was delighted that the vessel came to “say hello “sailing all the way up to St.Maarten-St.Martin as it will most probably take a while before the ship will drop anchor here in the coming years due to her busy sailing schedule around the world.

Captain Marcus A. Seidl said:”The wind has calmed down to a light Caribbean breeze now and the sailing is perfect so far. All is well on board and this fourth week at sea is promising to be a more exciting one, as we see land and have more active sailing ahead of us.”

The Norwegian flagged ship is the “Statsraad Lehmkuhl”, a 3-masted steel bark, originally built by Johann C. Tecklenborg AG in Bremerhaven-Geestemünde in 1914 as a training ship for the German merchant marine.

The “Statsraad Lehmkuhl” has a gross tonnage of 1.516 tons and a sail area of 2.026 square meters distributed between 22 sails. The capacity for trainees is up to 150 persons in hammocks and the cabin capacity for the permanent crew and occasional extra training staff accommodates up to 40 persons. The ship has a diesel engine for propulsion that develops 1125 HP, which gives the ship a speed of up to 10 knots in fair weather conditions. Under sail the ship has reached speeds of over 18 knots and is renowned as a fast and exceptionally seaworthy sailing vessel. She regularly competes in and wins Tall Ships Races.

From Curaçao the vessel will set sail to Jamaica and Cuba and sailing around Cape Horn in the beginning of April 2022.

Later they will visit Chile, Indonesia, Mauritius, Mozambique, and other countries.

For all information visit www.CaribbeanSailTraining.com and www.CaribbeanSailTrainingAssociation.org and www.CaribbeanSailTraining.org