Three schoolchildren from Kostroma became participants in a round-the-world expedition dedicated to the 200th anniversary of the discovery of Antarctica. Students of the Kostroma Children's Maritime Center passed a competitive selection.
“Our 2nd shift sea cadets of the Youth Marine League, having successfully taken the Moscow - Madrid - Buenos Aires - Ushuaia flight, boarded the “Pallada” on February 12th. We saw the first session participants off, took the baton of the world expedition, and, on February 14th, sailed into the open Atlantic Ocean,” writes in his diary Andrei Veselov, a cadet of the Kostroma Children's Maritime Center.
Together with him are two more fellow countrymen - Alexei Khokhlov and Evgeny Kasatkin. A total of 14 schoolchildren aged 15 to 17 years got on the ship. They are the best students of maritime clubs who have passed rigorous competitive selection throughout Russia.
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For several years, the students had been taking an active part in the projects of the regional branch of the Russian Geographical Society: they perpetuated the memory of the hero of the Battle of Sinop and the Siege of Sevastopol, admiral, member of the Russian Geographical Society, Pavel Pereleshin; researcher of the Far East, admiral, member of the Russian Geographical Society, Gennady Nevelsky; the discoverer of Antarctica, the head of Russian America, admiral, Ivan Kupreyanov. They also took part in the creation of a monument dedicated to the Buy sailors.
The discoverer of Antarctica, the governor of Russian America, who circled the earth three times. Read
The participants had begun to prepare for the voyage three months before the start: they took training courses for the crew, completely studied the structure of the “Pallada”, brushed up on the sea alphabet – semaphore; and broke their own knotting records. The Kostroma regional branch of the Russian Geographical Society supported the expedition. In addition to financial assistance, young sailors were given a banner and calendars with the image and biography of Ivan Kupreyanov, the vice admiral, a native of the Kostroma province, a participant in the first Antarctic expedition; and the flag of the regional branch of the Russian Geographical Society . It had managed to visit the Dasht-e Lut desert in Iran -the hottest place on the planet; as well as the secret military bases of the Nazis, located in the fjords of northern Norway.
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The path of the “Pallada” sailboat will go through the Southern Hemisphere. Young sailors will visit the seaports of Argentina, South Africa and Mauritius, will keep watch and work with professional sailing equipment, but for this, schoolchildren must pass an internal “exam” in order to be allowed to work with the sails of the ship.
“We have a difficult task to pass all the tests to be allowed to work as deck cadets as soon as possible in order to join the friendly, experienced crew and not look like idle passengers,” says Andrei.
Another participant in the voyage, Andrei Vasiliev, will turn 17 years old right in the middle of the Indian Ocean. He will celebrate his birthday in Port Louis, Mauritius. This is the first serious voyage for the teenagers - after it they will be able to practice on the ship as sailors, and not deck cadets.
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“On the first day, we familiarized ourselves with security measures and reviewed the topic of rescue equipment on board a ship. On the 2nd day we studied the structure of a spar, rigging and the rig. And on the 3rd day the practical exercises began: the climb along the shrouds to the crow's nest and to the lower topsail yard of the mainmast went to the very tip of the bowsprit. Surprisingly, none of the cadets showed a shadow of doubt and fear when climbing to a height. The faces literally radiated with delight! The study conditions can be called ‘as close as possible to the fighting’ - all day is interspersed with all hands on deck situations and ship work,” shares his observations cadet Veselov.
The journey of teenagers will last from February 10th to April 12th. At the end, the students will receive official certificates on the number of nautical miles traveled.
We would like to remind you, that a member of the RGS, representative of the Media Group of the Russian Geographical Society, Leonid Kruglov, is participating in the expedition on the Rosrybolovstvo sailboats “Under the flag of Russia and the pennant of the Federal Agency For Fishery (Rosrybolovstvo)”. The expedition is dedicated to the 200th anniversary of the discovery of Antarctica and the 75th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War.