The year 2022 began in Golfito, Costa Rica, with a science voyage which included youngsters from Costa Rica, during which the scientists spotted and took amazing photos of a whale (fluke pictured).
Following the Costa Rica voyage, the return leg of the transatlantic voyage with Ocean College began from Costa Rica via more stops including sailing back through the Panama Canal, off to Nassau in The Bahamas, Bermuda, the Azores and then Pelican stopping in Dartmouth, where they were greeted with a huge welcome and reception as the ship entered.
On the last leg of the Ocean College voyage, the annual Pelican takeover commenced, when the Ocean College crew take over the ship and apply to become the captain, cook, engineer etc. and essentially run the ship for the final duration of the voyage from Dartmouth, which finished in Emden on 3rd of April. The Ocean College crew sang sea shanties from the yards as youngsters returned home.
Pelican then sailed to Bristol for a maintenance period and inspection over the Easter holidays, where she also saw her sister, the Fridtjof Nansen for the first time and we took some epic shots of both of our tall ships together.
Pelican then sailed to Dublin for her first summer voyage of 2022 at the beginning of May.
This was a science voyage, beginning on the 2nd of May, the start of a summer during which many of our voyages were in collaboration with our close partners Sail Training Ireland. Since the pandemic, this has been the first “back to normal” summer for us and we couldn’t wait for it to begin!
Following quickly on from the Ocean Science voyage came the Temple Carrig voyage on the 9th of May, with new youngsters joining from Dublin ready for a voyage of sail training and self-discovery.
On the 16th of May, more youngsters eagerly joined the ship, for the St Michael’s College voyage. We were so glad that the pandemic was over as it allowed us to bring more youngsters onto the ship by doing shorter voyages. During the pandemic by adhering to strict health protocols we were able to deliver two circumnavigations of the UK and a handful of shorter voyages across the two summers, but it was great in 2022 to get back to normal!
Then came our first adult voyage of the summer commencing on the 25th of May, the Adult Tall Ship Adventure voyage also starting from Dublin but this time ending in Liverpool rather than back in Dublin. For safeguarding reasons we separate our adult and age 14-17 voyages, and which also allows the age groups to get the most out of their time aboard being among people of similar age group.
This was followed on the 30th May by another adult voyage, the Three Cities Erasmus Voyage for ages 18-30 years old, commencing from Liverpool and ending in Belfast with magnificent sights during the voyage.
Youngsters then had the opportunity to do the Three Cities Erasmus Voyage which started for them on the 6th of June in Belfast, returning to Dublin.
On the 20th of June the over-18s Irish Sea Explorer began, an exploration of the Irish Sea from the unique perspective of sailing on a tall ship. On the 27th of June under-18s also had the same opportunity on the Irish Sea Explorer from Dublin to Cork.
Another college joined the Pelican on the 4th of July, Ardingly College, for 15-17 year-olds for a 9-day voyage from Cork and exploring the sea around Cork. We have developed relationships with several schools and colleges since 2016: it is fantastic that so many are seeing Sail Training as a means to enabling their students to grow and develop their confidence, communication skills, teamwork, and more important life skills.
In mid-July we took part in the Bristol Harbour Festival, again for the first time in three years because of the pandemic. Itwas so busy, and so great to see many of you there, new and old supporters, including someone who was on the very first Pelican sail training voyage in 2007! Our crew, trustees and staff were all in Bristol and it was great also to welcome some of our funders and delivery partners.
It was also an opportunity to show people the Fridtjof Nansen in Albion Dockyard, next door to the SS Great Britain. We cannot wait for Bristol Harbour Festival in 2023, and we thank everyone for their interest in both our tall ships, and more importantly in Seas Your Future's youth development work.
Following the Harbour festival, new youngsters embarked on the Pelican to take part in the 10th Sail Training Ireland voyage of the Season! On the 30th of July, our close partner Ocean College brought a group of over 20 youngsters aboard the Pelican for their first Summer School voyage of 2022. This included youngsters from all over Europe, and they were joined by youngsters from Barrow and the south Cumbria area, to not only see new places but interact with people from different cultures. This voyage saw the Pelican sail to five different countries in five days: Ireland, the Isle of Man, Scotland, Wales and England!
The Pelican arrived in Barrow for for the Barrow Tall Ship Festival weekend from the 5th to the 8th of August. The Ocean College students spent Saturday participating in outdoor activities at YMCA Lakeside, while the Barrow youngsters were able to show visitors around Pelican and meet sponsors and supporters.
The youngest ever Scientist in Residence then boarded the Pelican, Olivia Yorke-Dunne and did a fantastic job! OceanCollege re-joined the ship on the 25th of August for the second Ocean College Summer School. This voyage also included youngsters from the Barrow area mixed with youngsters from Germany and youngsters from Plymouth studying ocean science. During this voyage one of the trainees told us that they wanted to pursue a career in languages, wanting to communicate with more people without barriers.
On the 1st of September Pelican returned to Barrow for an open ship day which was another success.
The summer season came to an end with a STEM at Sea voyage, combining STEM education with sail training, led by our Head of Science Dr Charlotte Braungardt (Charly). Charly really enjoyed the discussions, interesting questions and contributions from the youngsters.
Pelican arrived at the Hague on the 24th of September for a period of maintenance before beginning her next Ocean College 6-month Transatlantic voyage. Following maintenance, she voyaged from the Hague to Amsterdam ready for her new voyage crew.
On the 10th of October, the Ocean College students joined the Pelican, from Amsterdam, ready to make her their new home.
The first stop for this Ocean College voyage was Dartmouth where she arrived on the 15th of October. On the 27th of October, the Pelican left Dartmouth after a few more days there than originally planned and headed towards her next stop, Spain!
The Pelican arrived in Vigo on the 3rd of November. Vigo is one of the principle stops for Ocean College every year.
Following Vigo, the Pelican headed for Lisbon, where she arrived on the 10th of November, allowing the students to have a “Portuguese Crash Course”.
On the 22nd of November, the Pelican arrived in Tenerife, where she met Regina Maris, the second Ocean College tall ship for this year. From Tenerife the Pelican sailed across the Atlantic arriving in Antigua on the 21st of December.
In Antigua on the 22nd of December the Pelican had some local visitors from the Antigua Yacht Club and The West Indies Sail Heritage Foundation, which was really great and we hope inspired youngsters from Antigua to climb aboard tall ships.
Christmas day was spent off the coast of sunny Dominica, described by the voyage crew as "Christmas day with a difference".
The Pelican finished the year sailing towards Panama and Costa Rica, ready for 2023!
2022 has been a really successful year for Pelican, and with acquisition and rebuild of our second ship Fridtjof Nansen progressing we look forward to 2023 as being another really exciting year.
