Yacht "Apostle Andrew": amazing arctic adventures

Slender masts, snow-white sails, saltedsplashes ... Who of the boys did not dream of going on a cruise in a sailing ship as a child ?! Thirst for adventure beckoned to distant lands and unexplored distances. The works of Jules Verne, Daniel Defoe, Robert Stevenson and Jonathan Swift pushed the imagination. But the sailboats that circumnavigate the world still exist. One of them is the yacht "Apostle Andrew".

The birth of a sailing ship

Nikolai Andreevich Litau for his life organizedand participated in a lot of travel. From childhood he dreamed of the seas, oceans and sailboats. The idea of ​​a round-the-world trip across the four oceans became a major hobby. For its implementation, the most enduring ocean yacht was required. She had to successfully overcome the Northern Sea Route through ice jams and bad weather. The price of a yacht of this kind is very high, but it was worth it.

Under the guidance and commissioned by Litau, aThe sailboat project, which was to satisfy all the required conditions. It was decided to build it in Tver, and the beginning was laid in 1993. The construction was delayed for as long as three years, which was hampered by technical and financial problems.

Finding a name

The erection was already completed, and the sailing ship never found the name. Everyone remembers the words of Captain Vrungel from the eponymous cartoon:

"You give the name for nothing,
I will tell you in advance:
As you name the boat,
So she will swim.
As you name the boat,
So she will swim! "

(The author of the text fragment is Chepovetsky E.)

In his first voyage the ship went anothernameless. Safely he swam to Moscow for blessing and coverage to Patriarch Alexy II. It was from him that he got his name. Yacht "Apostle Andrew" is named after the holy apostle Andrew the First-Called, who is considered the patron saint of seamen.

Technical characteristics and equipment

This is an ocean yacht, so it was built withtaking into account all requirements for reliability and endurance. Its body is welded, and the contours are faceted. Steel sheeting is used as the skin. In the bottom area, its thickness reaches two centimeters.

The length of the ship is 16.2 m, width is 4.8 m. It has two masts, 19 and 14 meters high, capable of carrying 130 square meters. m sails. The yacht can not only sail, but also has an engine for unforeseen occasions. This is an Iveco unit with a capacity of 85 horses. The sailing ship's draft is 2.7 m, and the displacement is 25 tonnes.

The maximum speed at which a yacht can fly under all sails is 12 knots. This is slightly more than 22 km / h. The cruising speed of the sailboat is about 7 knots, or about 13 km / hour.

Serving while sailing the yacht "Apostol Andrew" can crew of 5-7 people. On board there is everything you need - modern navigation systems and communications, sleeping places and a galley.

Now the price of the yacht, even quite smallwalking, is about one and a half million rubles. But this vessel is not so easy to evaluate. It now also has a certain historical value, although it was created quite recently. During its existence, it has set a record and overcame the waterways previously inaccessible to ships of this class.

Circumnavigations

The yacht "Apostle Andrew" set off for the first time around the world in 1996. She was able to successfully bypass the Eastern Hemisphere, while achieving three record indicators:

• the first round-the-world in the meridional direction;
• the first round-the-world voyage through all the oceans, the Arctic Ocean is no exception;
• the first passage along the Northern Sea Route.

The ship returned to the launch site in 1999, and in2001 again went on a trip. Now around the Western Hemisphere. The third round-the-world trip was carried out in 2004. The yacht had to circle Antarctica within the 60th parallel.

Each journey revealed imperfectionsdesign, so the rest time between the round-the-clock was dedicated to the modernization and improvements of the ship. For today it is a hardy, maneuverable and fast yacht, ready to challenge with its team with any extreme conditions.

Travel today

Do not think that everything has come to the end of the world. Almost every year, "Apostle Andrew" is sent to a new expedition.

• The year 2007 is the Solovetsky Islands.
• 2010 year. The plans were to round the New Earth. The exit was made from Tver. After visiting the Solovetsky archipelago, they reached the island of Vaigach, where they landed a group of passengers - environmentalists. Then the course was taken for the purpose of the trip, the yacht managed to bypass the entire archipelago entirely.
• 2011. The yacht reached the northernmost island of Franz Josef Land archipelago.
• year 2012. The yacht went in the footsteps of the expedition of Rusanov and the schooner "Hercules".
• year 2013. The team repeated the path of the Hydrographic Expedition of Century Prescription. In addition, the ship managed to cross the 83rd parallel, and this is another degree in the Arctic achievements of the yacht.
• year 2014. Journey in the footsteps of G. Brusilov and the schooner "Saint Anna".
• 2015 is a year rich in jubilees. The captain of the yacht 60, the ship itself on the same day 19. And a month later the ship went to Dixon on the 100th anniversary from the moment when the first icebreakers Taimyr and Vaigach arrived in Arkhangelsk and completed the crossing by the Northern Sea Route.
• 2017 year. Eleventh trip to the Arctic, again dedicated to Rusanov and "Hercules".

The wanderings of the yacht do not end there. Her captain has many plans for the future.