Visit to a tall ship

Cadets are expected to climb rigging to the spars to let loose or furl the 31 sails, to know the names of the sails, the names of each one in the maze of ropes used to manoeuvre them, to ascend the masts, (the tallest, the mainmast measures 45 metres — the best part of 150 feet for readers yet to go metric). I was relieved to hear the cadets have safety belts when manning the yardarms (or are they “spars,” the correct technical term eludes one).

As in the old days of sail, cadets are expected to man the capstan, to pull up the anchor, to swab the teak decking, to man the wheel, in short, to learn the basics of seamanship. They also learn how to use the bewildering array of modern technology on the bridge, which has no wheel, as such.

As one can see from the photographs taken when Captain Leonard Puntel personally gave Newsday a conducted tour of the ship, four cadets share one air-conditioned stateroom and a tiny bathroom. It may seem cramped to us but is a far cry from the hot, unsanitary conditions in the clipper ships of old.

The captain has his own