May 2008 will mark the beginning of a whole new adventure for Picton Castle. The ship will set sail on a year-long voyage around the Atlantic, calling at ports in twenty different countries. This voyage will have all the characteristics of our now-famous world circumnavigation voyages: long sea passages broken up by weeks of port hopping, in-depth training in seamanship and square-rig sailing, the time and guidance to develop in skill and confidence, and the entry into the kinship of shipmates. Everyone who sails with us is a working crew member who stands watches, takes a turn at the helm, helps in the galley, sets and takes in sail, keeps the ship in good shape and enters a port knowing they played a role in getting the ship safely to her destination.
After a winter of being tied up in our home port of Lunenburg, the ship will set out across the Atlantic in May 2008. The first landfall after the Atlantic crossing will be southern Ireland, followed by a run into the Baltic Sea to the Aland Islands. On the way back out of the Baltic we’ll stop in Denmark on the way to Bergen, Norway where Picton Castle will meet up with the fleet of European tall ships. The ship will sail to Den Helder, the Netherlands and Bremerhaven, Germany in company with the fleet before heading down the English Channel with a stop at Ipswich. Picton Castle will return to her roots in Milford Haven and Swansea, Wales as we visit ports close to the castle for which the ship is named. Brest is next on the itinerary, then into the Mediterranean past Gibraltar to Mallorca. We’ll head back into the Atlantic and visit the Canary Islands, the Madeira Islands, Dakar in Senegal, and the Cape Verde Islands before crossing the ocean again, this time dipping south of the Equator to Fernando de Noronha, an island group off Brazil. The journey will continue with a few months of sailing in the Eastern Caribbean, experiencing some of the best sailing, anchorages and island hopping in the world, before arriving back in Lunenburg about a year later.
We are thrilled to be introducing this new and exciting voyage. In 10 years of operation, we have found Picton Castle is at her best on long voyages. This new voyage will give us a chance to bring the ship back to Europe where she was built and served most of her life fishing, carrying cargo and working as a WWII mine sweeper. Picton Castle‘s award-winning program will remain much the same as on our world voyages but with the added challenge and wonder of sailing different waters and exploring different ports.
No sailing experience is necessary to join this amazing voyage. All you need is a desire for adventure, a willingness to get along with your shipmates and a reasonable level of physical fitness. You can apply online or through our office. Contact us with any questions you may have about this opportunity of a lifetime.
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