Dar Młodzieży Sets Sail for Start of Season
On 14 March at 14:00 hours, Dar Młodzieży left its home port in Gdynia for the start of the 2024 season. With a 32-man crew and students and pupils on board, Gdynia Maritime University’s sail training ship set off on a two-month voyage during which aspiring mariners will complete a period of seamanship service, learn how to work effectively as a team, and get a taste of life at sea.
Dar Młodzieży will reach the port in Antwerp on 21 March. In Antwerp pupils from the Maritime primary and secondary schools in Gdansk, who were involved in the preparations of the sails on board and other work before the frigate left port in Gdynia, will disembark the ship to be replaced by 100 students and their teachers from Antwerp Maritime Academy. The new participants will then take part in a 28-day voyage to Algeciras in the Straits of Gibraltar. The ship is scheduled to return to Antwerp on 19 April, where it will take on board pupils from maritime and inland sailing schools in Gdańsk, Szczecin and Kędzierzyn-Koźle. On 21 April, the school pupils and their teachers will head for the British port of Lerwick in the Shetland Islands.
The Director of the Ship Management Office, Dariusz Jellonnek, also commented on the first voyage of the season:
– The Dar Młodzieży is heading out to sea with a newly renovated bridge which has been updated with the most modern equipment, namely JRC radar, including the newest magnetron-free S-band radar with a small antenna. The ship has also been equipped with an ECDIS electronic map system. We have also installed Multi Display Function monitors which will allow the officer of the watch to use four screens (two radar and two ECDIS screens) according to preference.
Before taking in the lines and setting sail, the crew met in the officer's mess with HM The Rector of Gdynia Maritime University who after discussing organisational matters wished the captain and crew a successful sailing season.
In addition to the ship’s permanent crew and students and pupils onboard for the journey to the ship’s first port of call of the season - Antwerp - this year, there is also a well-known special guest on board. Restaurateur and contestant in the popular television programmes Top Chef and Master Chef Malika Szyc-Juchnowicz has joined the crew for the first stage of the voyage. Malika, whose love of travel and cuisine is inspired by the most remote corners of the world, has joined the crew to share her culinary knowledge with the ship’s crew chefs, in particular of vegetarian dishes.
The last port call before the ship returns to Gdynia will be Hamburg on 9th May - the anniversary of the port’s foundation. Each year’s anniversary is celebrated with Hafengeburstag - one of the most widely known port festivals in the world. Dar Młodzieży will return to Gdynia on 19 May.
