September 26, 2019
Sails were raised at Poltava
On the revived sailing ship of the Petrine era – a linear 54-gun ship of the 4th rank "Poltava" – for the first time raised all 10 sails with a total area of 1000 square meters.
“This event was planned for a different date, but it happened earlier, because today the weather conditions were ideal, and we were a little ahead of our schedule. It was very pleasant for me, returning from a business trip, to see not only the mast of the ship against the background of the Lakhta Center under construction, but also filled sails, ”shared the chief builder of the Poltava ship Mikhail Plekhanov.
The sails were lifted on a moored ship in a gentle wind to test the running rigging – the cables used to control sails and a mast. Another goal of the test setup is team training. As noted by the captain of the ship "Poltava" Maxim Korshunov, the production was held in normal mode. In total, it took about an hour of work to a team of 10 people. This training allowed the builders to make sure that all the rigging on the ship is working properly, and to identify where improvements are needed.
“The setting of sails today is practically no different from the setting in the XVIII century. Work with sails is carried out exclusively in manual mode without the use of any auxiliary mechanical devices. Only sailors, blocks and ropes work, ”said Maxim Korshunov.
All the sails for the ship were hand-sewn in the sailing workshop of the historical shipyard “Poltava” of the St. Petersburg Yacht Club. Three hundred years ago, the sails were made of linen or hemp of the highest quality, for Poltava they chose a modern synthetic material that looks almost like a natural canvas – while it is more durable and durable.
Recall, the reconstructed linear 54-gun ship of the 4th rank Poltava was launched on City Day on May 27, 2018. A replica of the battleship “Poltava” began to be built in 2013 at the shipyard of historical shipbuilding “Poltava”, founded by the Yacht Club of St. Petersburg. After completion of all construction work, the ship will become the center of a large modern interactive museum complex dedicated to the marine history of Russia. Now excursions to Poltava are temporarily not carried out in connection with the construction work on the ship and the reconstruction of the harbor.
Olga Sidorovskaya
Head of the Press Service of the Yacht Club of St. Petersburg
131 September 26, 2019 # 9510
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