Tall ship A tall ship is a large, traditionally- rigged sailing vessel. Popular modern tall ship rigs include topsail schooners, brigantines, brigs and barques. "Tall ship" can also be defined more specifically by an organization, such as for a race or f ...

''Atyla'' () is a two-masted wooden

schooner A schooner () is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than the mainmast. A common variant, the topsail schoo ...

handmade in

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

between 1980 and 1984. She was designed by Esteban Vicente Jimenez to look like the Spanish vessels from the

1800s 1800s may refer to: * The century from 1800 to 1899, almost synonymous with the 19th century (1801–1900) * 1800s (decade) File:1800s collage.jpg, 420x420px, From top left, clockwise: Napoleon Bonaparte is crowned Emperor of the French Empire and ...

and built with the intention of circumnavigating the Earth following the Magellan–Elcano route and then become a training ship. Although she never did that trip and instead sailed around Spain for almost her 30 years, in 2013 Esteban’s nephew became her new skipper and decided to finally dedicate her to international

sail training From its modern interpretations to its antecedents when maritime nations would send young naval officer candidates to sea (e.g., see Outward Bound), sail training provides an unconventional and effective way of building many useful skills on and ...

for both professionals and amateurs.

Construction

''Atyla'' was a personal project of Esteban Vicente Jimenez (

Soria Soria () is a municipality and a Spanish city, located on the Douro river in the east of the autonomous community of Castile and León and capital of the province of Soria. Its population is 38,881 ( INE, 2017), 43.7% of the provincial populati ...

, 1953), sport teacher and professional canoeist. With his friends, they wanted to build a ship to sail around the world. Esteban started designing the ship from scratch in 1979 to make it look like the traditional Spanish vessels from the

. The project was then tuned and corrected upon approval by the naval architect PhD. Franciso Lasa Etxarri. Most of the wooden part were carved in Vinuesa (Soria), using ash, elondo, oak and mainly, Scots pine, a tree that is highly abundant in the area. The masts were made using two 175-year-old pines donated by the town of Vinuesa itself in support of the project. The rest of the boat, including the hull, was made using an African hardwood known as

iroko Iroko (also known as in Igbo language, '' in the Urhobo language of Southern Nigeria, and as odum in the Kwa languages of Ghana) is a large hardwood tree from the west coast of tropical Africa that can live up to 500 years. This is the common n ...

, which is amongst the most durable ones in the world. Some years later, in 1986, the original pine masts were replaced with iroko as well. The assembly took place in Lekeitio, in the abandoned building of the shipyard Eguiguren & Atxurra by the banks of the river Lea. Its owner Jose María Solano allowed Esteban to use it. They had to restore the boat yard a little bit, and the building still stands today as part of Lekeitio’s history. In 1983 the idea of circumnavigating the world following the Magellan–Elcano route was already rounded, and a company from the region (

Petronor Petróleos del Norte S.A. (Petronor) is a Spanish oil and gas company based in Muskiz, Basque Country. The company was established on 30 November 1968. From 1976 to 1981 its executive manager was Nemesio Fernández-Cuesta. It is owned by Repso ...

) was going to sponsor the circumnavigation. In 1984 esteban Esteban received the Honourable Mention of the

Rolex Awards for Enterprise Rolex SA () is a British-founded Swiss watch designer and manufacturer based in Geneva, Switzerland. Founded in 1905 as ''Wilsdorf and Davis'' by Hans Wilsdorf and Alfred Davis in London, the company registered ''Rolex'' as the brand name of ...

for the project.

Launching

''Atyla'' was launched on May 15, 1984. On the following weeks the engine and the electronic systems where installed in the shipyard Celaya. This shipyard of the city of Erandio (between

Bilbao ) , motto = , image_map = , mapsize = 275 px , map_caption = Interactive map outlining Bilbao , pushpin_map = Spain Basque Country#Spain#Europe , pushpin_map_caption ...

and Getxo) was famous because of the huge sailing boats that were built there until its closing at the end of the 1980s. Everything was ready when suddenly Petronor cancelled the sponsorship and Esteban was forced to find a new plan to fund the schooner's journey.

Time spent in Spain

In 1986 the plan was to go to the Caribbean to do short sailing trips with tourists. Nevertheless, the plans were once again cut short en route to the

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; es, :es:Canarias, Canarias, ), also known informally as the Canaries, are a Spanish Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community and archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, in Macaronesia. At their closest point to ...

to cross the Atlantic Ocean, when a storm forced the crew to shelter in Tangier and the boat got completely looted. Without provisions or equipment, the crew sailed the ''Atyla'' to the island of Lanzarote to recover from the robbery and there they started doing day-trips of sailing for families. ''Atyla'' remained nineteen years in the Port of Playa Blanca (south of Lanzarote). In 2005 the government of Cantabria (North Spain) hired ''Atyla'' to represent the region. She was brought to Santander, where for six years she was used for different kinds of activities related to tourism and environmental projects. Once the contract with the government of Cantabria was finished Esteban's nephew Rodrigo de la Serna (born in Madrid in 1989) decided to take charge of ''Atyla'' in order to keep her sailing. Esteban and Rodrigo worked together carving a new bowsprit and both the gaff and boom of the foresail and then they moved the vessel to the Mediterranean Sea where she was chartered for a big sailing event by the brand

Cutty Sark ''Cutty Sark'' is a British clipper ship. Built on the River Leven, Dumbarton, Scotland in 1869 for the Jock Willis Shipping Line, she was one of the last tea clippers to be built and one of the fastest, coming at the end of a long period ...

commencing in Ibiza.

International Sail Training

In September 2013 ''Atyla'' took part on the Mediterranean Tall Ships Regatta 2013, organized by

Sail Training International Sail Training International (STI) is an international sail training organisation, with members in 29 countries. Its main aim is to train sailing skills to young people. It is based in Hampshire in the United Kingdom and is a registered charity.UK b ...

. Rodrigo saw in these kind of events his opportunity to finally dedicate the vessel to sail training and to develop an educational project around it. In 2014 ''Atyla's'' route was called "Full sail around Europe" and it consisted on navigating 20,000 kilometres (equivalent to half the Earth's circumference) without leaving the European continent. The ship is currently in the process of registering under the British Flag

References

External links