Wodeco IV under tow
WODECO IV under tow
Slowly settling in the Netherlands in the early nineties, I heard about the Eendracht. I called the office in Scheveningen and asked if they needed an engineer volunteer and yes soon I was asked to join for a couple of trips. I made trips to France and to England which I enjoyed it tremendously.
The sea keeps "pulling", its in your blood, you never forget the vastness and the feeling of "being the only one on the world". Its easy to get you in a meditative state of mind and just let the beauty of it all sink in slowly. You never can share this feeling with anybody as nobody will understand but only the ones fortunate enough to have been out there, on the wide open ocean in good times and bad times.
The Eendracht is a three masted schooner from the Netherlands built in 1989 at the Damen Shipyard.
She is now run on a charter base by Stichting het Zeilend Zeeschip (the Sailing Seaship Foundation) and used as a sail training ship to give young people an introduction to the sea. This is the second "Eendracht", Eendracht meaning 'unison' in the Dutch Language). The first vessel run by the same foundation was a two masted schooner, which was sold to German owners and now sails under the name of "Johann Smidt".
The foundation that runs the programme was founded in 1938 but with the second world war disrupting the plans, it took a lot longer than anticipated to raise the funds for the first ship. Soon after the first vessel, originally a topsail schooner, was launched, it was realised that the vessel was too small for the purposes of the foundation. Immediately the planning for a larger three masted vessel began.
This three masted vessel has sailed continuously since her launch date. Every year she spends the winter months in the south, and the summer in the North region. She is crewed by a volunteer corps of around about 350 volunteers.
The sea keeps "pulling", its in your blood, you never forget the vastness and the feeling of "being the only one on the world". Its easy to get you in a meditative state of mind and just let the beauty of it all sink in slowly. You never can share this feeling with anybody as nobody will understand but only the ones fortunate enough to have been out there, on the wide open ocean in good times and bad times.
The Eendracht is a three masted schooner from the Netherlands built in 1989 at the Damen Shipyard.
She is now run on a charter base by Stichting het Zeilend Zeeschip (the Sailing Seaship Foundation) and used as a sail training ship to give young people an introduction to the sea. This is the second "Eendracht", Eendracht meaning 'unison' in the Dutch Language). The first vessel run by the same foundation was a two masted schooner, which was sold to German owners and now sails under the name of "Johann Smidt".
The foundation that runs the programme was founded in 1938 but with the second world war disrupting the plans, it took a lot longer than anticipated to raise the funds for the first ship. Soon after the first vessel, originally a topsail schooner, was launched, it was realised that the vessel was too small for the purposes of the foundation. Immediately the planning for a larger three masted vessel began.
This three masted vessel has sailed continuously since her launch date. Every year she spends the winter months in the south, and the summer in the North region. She is crewed by a volunteer corps of around about 350 volunteers.