Ülesõit Valletta - Split / The Crossin between Malta and Croatia

In English please below..

Peale kevadisi seilamisi Sitsiilia ja Malta vahel oli Hoppetil plaan siirduda Horvaatiasse, et asuda poolteist kuud Splitis Horvaatias. Sinna on Eestimaa rahval lihtne jõuda, kuna olemas otselend Tallinna ja Spliti vahel. See kant on meie inimeste seas hinnatud ja mitte põhjuseta - loodus on imekena ja horvaadid väga külalislahked. Huvitavat ajalugu pole mõtet mainidagi.

Ülesõit oli mõeldud ajavahemikku 9-16. aprill. Küll aga olid kevadised tugevad tuuled ja pidevalt muutuv ilm teinud meeskonna kaunis ettevaatlikuks. Võis vabalt juhtuda nii, et ilma tõttu ei jõua õigeks ajaks kohale, sest peab passima kuskil tormivarjus. 

Ja ega sõit ei alanudki plaanipäraselt. Kõigepealt jäime Syracusalt Maltale tulles päeva hiljaks - tugeva tuule tõttu jõudis Hoppet reede asemel laupäeval. Osa ülesõidutiimist, kes juba reedel Vallettasse jõudis, pidi leidma peavarju mujal. Kogenud rännumehed ei hakanud siiski vahendeid hotelli peale raiskama, leiti peavari reedeõhtustes trahterites ja peale seda kes aga kus. 

Laupäeval tervitas Hoppetit igaljuhul rõõmus ja värske seltskond, kõik tahtmist täis kohe teele minna. Siiski oli vaja veel võtta kütust, mille olime pikalt ette tellinud. J a  s e e  v e n i s - kuigi juba ammu teame, et lõunamaalased ei kiirusta ja võtavad asja väga rahulikult, siis ikkagi on ootamine kõige tüütum tegevus. Kütuse saime muidugi alles esmaspäeva lõunal ja siis oli kõik minekuks klaar. Birgust väljasõit on sadama kitsuse tõttu omaette ettevõtmine, eriti peab jälgima praamiliiklust - kaks laeva korraga lihtsalt ei mahu. Haakisime end praami sappa ja kõik juba kena - kui nägime praami tagasikäiku andmas, sest vastu tuli mingi turistide lustilaev ... 

On tõsiselt kindlus- ja turvatunnet tekitav jälgida Hoppeti kapteni Aini tegevust sellistes olukordades. Kui meeskond juba jooksis vendrite järgi, et püüda ses kitsas sadamas säästa kalleid plastkaatreid ja -jahte meie tugeva puidust vanalaeva eest ja reeder hakkas juba kindlustusepabereid välja otsima, siis Ainil ei liikunud isegi kulm kui ta ka kõige kitsamas kohas manööverdas 30 meetrise ilma vöörivindita laevaga ja olukord lahenes ilma igasuguste sekeldusteta! Igaljuhul neil, kes esimest korda Hoppetil oli ja kes vast veidi kõrgendatud ettevaatuses laeva ja tema meeskonda suhtusid, neil viimanegi pinge kadus. Lehvitasime kenadele maltalastele ja tänasime Malta Transporti, kes hindas meie vanalaeva ja ei küsinud kai ääres seismise eest kopikatki.

Koos meeskonnaga sai munsterrolli 18 nime. Lisaks veel Udu, Pekka ja laevakoer Max, kes pidid Sürakuusal maha astuma, et maitsi auto järele tuua. See kaotus andis Udule ja Pekkale muidugi nädalase hingetõmbe, kuid tegi teiste elu nõksukese keeruliseks. Udu on ometi ju see, kes teab kus miski laevas asub. Ja Pekka on laeval kokk... Seega pidi täiesti uus meeskond saama laeva haldamisega hakkama.

Aga see uus meeskond oli igati lahe punt kogenud seilajad ja kangesti tahtmist täis. Rahvast oli nii Eestist, Soomest, Ahvenamaalt ja kogunisti kaugelt Saksamaalt. Ametlikuks suhtluskeeleks sai inglise keel, millest reisi lõpus kujunes eesti, inglise, soome, itaalia ja rootsi keele segu, millest kõik väga hästi aru ka said. Määrati kahetunnised vahid ja ette rutates võib öelda, et nii piinlikult täpset vahitäitmist pole vist Hoppetil küll enne nähtud, võibolla ainult siis kui Merekooli õpilased laevas olid.

Sõidu algus oli päikesepaisteline ja nõrga tuulega. Aga üsna pea hakkas soodne tuul puhuma ja kohe muidugi purjed üles. Varahommikul olime Sürakuusas ja rahvas sai linnaloa keskpäevani - olime ajagraafikust selgelt maas. Kõik jooksid linnaga kiirtutvust tegema Udu väljuhääsete soovituste saatel, mis kohad kindlasti üle vaadata. 

Meeskonnal oli veel viimane võimalus täiendada proviandivarusid. 18 inimest 4-5 päeva pole kogenud laevameestele mingisugune eriline aritmeetika, kuid kes enne pole sellega tegelenud, sel kulus Archimedese aura ära lisaks ka Frizzante. Keskpäevaks kõik kenasti laevas. Udu ja Pekka aitasid otsi anda ja ees ootas ca 500 miili.


Kaasreisija

Kõik pardale! / All on deck! 

Hoppet Syracuse kai ääres / In Syracuse

After the early spring trips between Cicely and Malta, Hoppet planned to head to Croatia and stay in Split for a month and a half. It is easy to reach Split, as the flight connections with Split are very good. The area is highly appreciated among our people and with a good reason - the nature is very beautiful and locals are very kind. Not to mention an interesting history. 

The crossing was meant to happen during 9-16th April. But strong spring winds had made the crew careful. It was very likely that we would not reach our destination on right time as we might seek shelter from a storm in some marina.

As expected, it didn’t go planned. At first we couldn't leave Syracuse on time due to the strong winds, so we reached Malta on Saturday instead of Friday. Some crew members, who travelled to Valletta to meet Hoppet had to find a place to stay at night, but as they were experienced travellers they did not bother with hotels, instead they visited several pubs until closing time and  after that waited for the morning  under different shelters. 

Even though Hoppet was greeted by happy and excited people on Saturday morning and everybody was ready to set sail. But we still had to have fuel which was ordered. And this t o o k  t i m e - although we already knew that southerners don’t rush with anything, it was still very annoying to wait. Of course we didn’t get the fuel before Monday noon, but after that we were really finally ready to leave. As the conditions in the harbour were very tight, it was difficult to manoeuvre, we also had to consider the ferries coming and going as there were no room for two ships at a time. Our idea was to follow a ferry on its way out of the harbour and it went well for some time but then we noticed that the ferry started to reverse to give way for a tourist sight seeing boat.. 

It is always very reassuring to watch the calmness of Hoppet's captain Ain in those situations. As the crew already run to get the fenders to spare those expensive plastic yachts from pumping into a big wooden boat and the shipowner started to look for insurance papers the captain didn’t even move a brow while manoeuvring in the tightest spots with a 30 meter ship which didn’t even have a bow thruster, the situation solved without any incidents. Those, who were on the ship for the first time, knew now that the crew and the captain can be trusted and all tension was gone. We waved to the Maltans and thanked the Malta Transport who valued our  historic ship highly and didn’t ask a sent for staying on their quay. 

Among with the crew, there were 18 people on board, and also Udu, Pekka and the ship dog Max who had to leave in Syracuse to follow us by car via land. This meant a week of vacation for Udu and Pekka, but for us it made things more complicated. Udu is the one who knows where everything is on the ship and Pekka is the chef. Now the new crew had to manage without them. 

But there were some very experienced sailors among us this time on the ship and they were all full of will. We had people from Estonia, Finland, Aland and even from far Germany. The official language  was set to be English but in the end it was a mixture of English, Finnish, Italian and Swedish, which everybody understood perfectly of course. Two hour watches were set and to rush ahead I have to say that Hoppet probably haven’t had watches followed this accurately as they were this time, maybe only when the Maritime school boys were on board. 

At the beginning of our sailing the sun was shining but the wind was weak. Fortunately soon enough a favourable wind started blowing and of course we hailed all the sails. In early morning we reached Syracuse and everybody got a city pass for a day - we were clearly behind schedule. All hurried to see as much of the city as they could keeping in mind all of Udu's suggestions for sightseeing. 

The crew had their last chance to acquire provisions. To calculate it for 18 people for 4 to 5 days on sea is not a problem for an experienced sailors, but those who had not done it before, needed besides the aura of Archimedes also some Frizzante. Udu and Pekka helped to clear a mooring and approximately 500 miles were ahead of us. 

Fellow traveller