Travelogues

In March 2008, when I was preparing for the Watch Leader Traning Course on Asgard II, the Irish national sail training ship, I got a positive answer from Coiste an Asgard, the ship's operator, for the second cruise of the Tall Ships' Race 2008.
This is why I left Paris to Alesund (Norway) on August 3, 2008, to board Asgard II in Måløy the same day, with 20 other trainees and the relief engineer, Frank.

After a little moment of disappointment (my backpack wwas to arrive with one day of delay, in Kalvag), this was the beginning of a 19 days voyage, first along the West coast of Norway for the cruise in company, which lead us for 5 days from Måløy to 4 small harbours: Kålvag (a beautifull little village), Askvoll, Fedge (a small island), Strusshamn (with a barbecue with the cadets of TS Royalist), then Bergen for a three and a half days stop. Here ends Part I of the travelogue.

After coming back from Den Helder (the end of Part II), I was taking my time to process the pictures taken this summer when the bad new came out of the radio when I was taking my breakfast on September 11: "an Irish schooner had sunk near Bele-Ile, but the 25 passengers were safe". "Schooner" is not the right term, for Asgard II is (was) a brigantine, but 25 is a number I know: we were 26 on board this summer, 5 crew + 21 trainees (which made 1 extra trainee,who slept on a matress since there are only 20 bunks in the battery). I check on the net, and unfortunatly, the bad news became anightmare: the "Irish schooner" was indeed Asgard II. The ship was travelling from FAlmouth to LaRochele, to attend the baot show there. But a water inflow declared in the night, could not be contained by the pumps, and the ship had to be abandonned at 4 am. All the 25 escaped in the life rafts, which were picked up by two ships of SNSM (the French Lifeboat society) and safely brought to Belle-Ile. But the ship, who had floated under water for several hours, finally sunk at 8 m. She is now said to be lying on the bottom, 70 meters below. Everyboby now hopes that she will be lifted, including myself, so that these pictures should not be the last ones of the ship...

So what was just to be a pleasant travelogue has now become asort of memorial, because these are iamong the last pictures taken from that ship. The very last ones are probably those taken between Den Helder and Falmouth, because I do not expect that the 25 survivors had much time to bring a camera with them...