the "Midsummer" dream

...The exacting life of the sea has this

advantage over the life of the earth that

its claims are simple and cannot be evaded....

JOSEPH CONRAD

Hiya all,

my name is Drew and I would like you all to meet the s/v "Midsummer",

a twin masted, topsail rigged, classic schooner. She was designed as a sailing fishing vessel, built by the Van der Windt Shipyard and launched in a midsummer of 1910, at Vlaardingen, Holland.

She measures a 33.8 m (120 feet) in Length Overall, with the 6.5 m beam and 3.2 m draft.

With her GRT of 94 mt and 51 mt NET, she displaces 174 mt.

Her hull is made of rivetted wrought iron plates and it is an undisputed, living testament of the remarkable craftsmanship, of the Dutch shipwrights from the bygone era of the working sailing ships.

She was originally christened as Johanna Jacoba and was renamed number of times before assuming her current name, the Midsummer.

After her early life, fishing days were over, she was converted to a pleasure yacht and after several transformations she became a luxury cruiser and was roaming worlds seas and oceans until 2014, when she was carelessly run aground of the coast of Zanzibar.

Thankfully she was refloated and towed to the dry dock in eastern Africa where all damages caused by grounding were fixed, and she was back in her best, seaworthy again and ready to put to sea. Unfortunately that wasn't in the books for her, as a chain of unfavorable events followed, with the unsettled shipyard bills and dispute with the crew for unpaid wages, led to the legal proceedings, which ended up resulting in her arrest and after subsequent three and half years under court order, she was abandoned by her owners and the ownership was awarded to the salvage company and the shipyard in lieu of unsettled invoices. Sadly that beautiful little schooner was laid up, ever since, at the mercy of cruel elements of the equatorial Africa. Those few years since 2016 took mighty toll on her. The merciless monsoons, scorching heat, humidity, no maintenance whatsoever and petty theft, stripped her from the shine and glamour and left her with scars of the unforgiving time, but her unwavering dignity and gracefulness in every line of her hull and proud rigging still remains.

Then one day in December of 2021, friend of mine who knew that I was always looking for a classic sailing vessel, stumbled across a forgotten web posting about that stranded schooner, and asked me to take a look and that is how the "Midsummer" dream was born.

At once I've reached out to the custodians and after few months of negotiations we have reached an understanding with the conclusion that the Midsummer is worthy saving and they eventually further agreed to let her go for the good cause.

And the good cause it is.

Once fully renovated, plans for the Midsummer are, to be put into good educational uses and more. She will become not just a training vessel, but also a refuge and retreat for the Royal Marines and other service branches members and veterans who are suffering from PTSD. There is not better place for the peace of mind, than tranquility of the ocean, harmony and power of the sails and rigging and profound feeling of support of the brethren, as those who understand the scars we carry are the best healers of internal pain.

And there is no substitute for, and nothing better than, real sea time under sail on deck of a classic schooner like the Midsummer. Such training offers an unique experience and opportunity to learn the critical skills of seafarers - skills forgotten over time, such as wire work and sail making. Rarely does the opportunity come around to be part of working to rig a ship from the keel up, or to learn how sails are repaired.

Furthermore, the Midsummer, to earn some funds towards her upkeep, she may carry small quantities of boutique cargo, such as coffee, tea from South America, rum from Caribbean and wine from the Avon Valley of Nova Scotia, to ports in UK and Europe.

The Midsummer deserves saving from an inevitable, bitter end. She does need a lot of tender loving care. The plan is to get her on the dry dock in mid-June. Once seaworthy, she will sail either to the south of England or to Lunenburg, Nova Scotia for the re-fit by the end of September.

There are busy times ahead, to get all key components organized for the Midsummer’s drydocking in June. There is not much of the required materials readily available in Kenya. The Midsummer requires new masts, sails and running rigging. The biggest challenge is to get the any specialized kit over to east Africa

There two sailing that being considered. One is to sail north, via Suez, to the Mediterranean, and stopping there for final preparation for Atlantic crossing. The alternative plan is to sail down south to Cape Town or Saldanha Bay, then make a crossing of the Atlantic with landfall on Brazilian coast, perhaps at Recife or Natal. From there she will head up to the Caribbean. And then onwards to Lunenburg. And in the spring, after the re-fit, she will sail finally to the south of England.

 

So this a beginning of the Midsummer story, one man dream which may touch many and I truly believe that it will !

I want to invite You all up there, those who loves the sailing ships, serenity of the oceans, untamed energy of the wind, propelling us towards blue horizons and beyond, join me and follow the Midsummer dream and her saga.

Wish us good luck and perhaps give us wee bit of support in anyway you can as even good word goes extra mile....

thank you very much indeed for reading....

and there is more to come, on this long journey, this is just the beginning....

 

...navigare necesse est, vivere non est necesse....