Position: 2000 LT Sydney
Date:Tuesday February 16, 2010

Greyhounds of the sea

Just like yesterday we had three different parties on board, all hosted by the same company, Randstad. The hostess of Randstad, a managing director of the same company, and yours truly, did address the always differing attendees at every event. I am counting six times to date. What remains for the captain to say after his two preceding speakers have already talked about the Beagle voyage, the ship’s history and the relation between our ship, the company and the city of Amsterdam?
Well, let’s talk about the uniqueness of the ship, in order for everyone to appreciate the fact that they are attending a party on a very exclusive vessel. After all, there are only three ships on earth that can claim being a clipper ship, purely based on the lines of their hull.
First of all there is “Cutty Sark” , the last Mohican amongst the clipper ships. She is currently being restored after she suffered a devastating fire a few years ago. She will never float again and will pass her remaining time as a museum in a dry dock in Greenwich, UK. “Stad Amsterdam” and her sister ship “Cisne Branco” have a hull shape and rigging that is  representative for these  ocean going freighters of the middle of the nineteenth century and  are actually sailing today.
The interior of “Cisne Branco” differs from that of “Stad Amsterdam ” through her functionality as a training vessel to the Brazilian navy.
The clipper is defined by all specifications that warrant a  high vessel speed. Besides the fluent lines of the hull, the enormous amount of canvass carried in relation to the displacement of the vessel is the key to this speed. While sailing into Sydney harbor this phenomenon became apparent when “James Craig” and our vessel came alongside each other.
“James Craig”, a vessel of the generation succeeding the clipper ships, appears not to differ very much in ship length. The rigging however does differ very much. 
Although both ships carry a different umber of sails,  this becomes apparent in the picture attached. The dimension of masts, yards, sails and everything joined to it is what matters. That is what makes this ship such a joy to sail…..to be continued tomorrow.

Richard Slootweg
Captain Clipper Stad Amsterdam