A letter from old hands

Hello, Kruzenshtern,

It is not our first time here. A year ago during the voyage No. 3/127 we also had practice on board of the legendary barque within a group of the cadets from marine engineering department. We have just been surprised with the changes. Cadet's messroom and cabins have been repaired. We have also found updated manuals which will help us to get a better idea of our future profession. We got accommodated on board much faster than last year.

The ten-day preparatory program was reduced for us due to shortness of the voyage. The program covers all aspects of life on board starting with personal space management in cabins to getting basic maritime knowledge, skills and abilities. Training sessions were combined with laying aloft tasks, rigging lessons and classes on vessel's arrangement.

We like watching cadets who are new here. It reminds us of the time when we were on the Kruzenshtern for the first time, we confused halliards with downhauls too and had no idea of masts and spars. Yesterday these cadets had to take a test on rigging. Occasionally we wanted to prompt something to them, but we kept our emotions in check, as we realized that the harder the training, the easier the mission; nobody can help one out in case of emergency.

It is the seventh day of Kruzenshtern's voyage in Baltic Sea. Things are humming on board. Time of writing reports and taking tests has come. There is no warming up stage, we get down to practice at once and moving forward through hardships to the stars…

Vitaly Ursaki, Egor Utkin group ELM-2, BSA RF