What is it like to sail on a 18th century-style tall ship like Atyla

I have been postponing writing down these words for a while. The reason is, how could I just explain everything that I experienced in a blog post? Too much happened and most of it can not be put into words. But at least I try and I must apologise for this mere description. 

First of all, Atyla is a Spanish wooden two-mast sailing vessel built like they did in the good old 18th century. Children often think it is a pirate ship and because of its two black sails, I think it looks like one too 🙂 

The first time I was on board was All Ships Races from Tallinn to Klaipeda in July 2021. We had rough weather, lots of sea sickness but most importantly, unforgettable memories. In these hard conditions where you have no possibility to escape and the only choice is surviving, you grow an immense amount. This aspiration for growth made me returning already after two months. 

The second time I spent six days sailing, from Cadiz in Southern Spain to the Canary Islands, shortly peaking by Gibraltar. The Atlantic Ocean was very different and a much more pleasant experience compared to the Baltic Sea. We managed to see dolphins already on the first day! The dolphins visited us almost daily, usually swimming in our slipstream, us watching them from just 2 meters above the bowsprit net.

After that I realised that since I will want to return many times, it will probably be cheaper to return as a watch leader the next time 😀 I applied and to my big surprise got accepted! It was exciting and scary, therefore - challenge accepted! For becoming a watch leader I had to obtain an STCW certificate which made me go through some first aid, firefighting in an enclosed container full of flames and exercises with a rescue boat in a swimming pool. Very scary but also very much fun! This was followed by crew training on the ship. It included memorising all kinds of ship-specific operations like mooring and how all the sails were managed, also ship-specific fire fighting, man overboard rescue operations and team management. 

As a watch leader, I joined for the whole month and sailed from the Basque country to Portugal to Southern Spain to the Balearic Islands and up to Northern Italy. We did several stops on the way, visiting Pasaia, Vigo, Porto, Cascais, Malaga, Mallorca and Genova. In these cities, we often opened Atyla to visitors. 

My description here is the combination of both experiences - the participant and watch leader perspective.

To begin with, I would like to talk about the crew. I really believe and I know that I am not alone in that opinion, that crew on a tall ship is the most important part of the experience. After just two days on board, we became so close with most of the people, up to 24 on board at once. The people from far countries with various backgrounds and different ages became a true family. 

I know that some people have made friends for life on Atyla. Two of them had their bunk numbers tattooed on their bodies because they were sleeping in bunks next to each other and talking all nights. Hearing about this kind of strong bond was so moving. 

Ofcourse there was matchmaking going on. This naturally happens when single young people get together, especially in so intimate conditions. Yes, there were some love triangles. I really don’t understand why reality shows are made of drunk teenagers partying in some house or on an island. You better put them on a tall ship and it would be so much more fruitful TV show! 😀It was not all so evident but if you happened to be in the right place at the right time or talked to the right people you knew quite some juicy gossip.

How did we spend our time on the ship? The days were divided into watches where it was your and your fellow watchmate’s duty to set sails, take the helm, perform position and engine checks and basically help in ensuring that the ship was running well and everything was safe. All of this happened under the command of a captain or officer and one or two watch leaders. No matter if it is day or night - you wake up, perform your duties and then go to sleep. You can wake up at 10 pm or 4 am or 8 am or 2 pm, whatever time it is. You could sleep in your miniature bed or enjoy sleeping on a mattress on the sunny deck or on a bare wooden surface without a blanket, anything goes! Staying up for 4 hours every night messes up the sleep schedule so basically, we just slept when we could. 

Also sleeping in a bed was an extraordinary experience. For the month being, I was put into the bow cabin meant for watch leaders and you know, the bow is the most affected by the movement of waves. Defying the waving, waves that reached above the reeling and foresail preventers that were trying to knock me off, I had to reach a small door in the bow. It was such a small and hidden cabin that many of the participants were not aware of its existence. The door is just so small and you can not imagine that it leads to a cabin for six crew members! Opening the two-sided door needs an extra trick and then leads to a very steep ladder. I was always afraid that with big waves I will fall down and break my neck but luckily I only fell down once and without consequences. And then imagine a bed that is moving 2 meters upwards and 2 meters downwards as the ship breaks through the waves, in addition to side-to-side movements. Then imagine the sound of the waves right behind your bunk wall. Sometimes these are just gentle and calming sounds, other times hard, beating sounds of a wrathful sea. In the latter cases, they are usually accompanied by the numbing roars of the engine. The sounds were also accompanied by the creaking of the wood as the waves were ineffectively trying to mould the shape of the ship.

In the daytime, if the weather allowed, we were also given classes about sailing by the watch leaders. It was plenty of new information even for me who had learned the basics from the 70-page sailing manual beforehand because the specific sails of Atyla had each their peculiarities. Nine different sails with tens of lines each had its own function and had to be managed with precise order and caution. The officer and watch leaders were guiding these sail management operations which always included the coordination of at least four participants. This built a strong team feeling and in my humble opinion is the best way for practicing teamwork.

Then there was the climbing. Atyla has two masts, ca 23 meters high. What I especially love about this schooner is that it has two square sails and for operating these someone had to always climb to the mast for unpacking or packing them. It was not just climbing but climbing up to 20 meters on a stuttering rope ladder, then squeezing through some narrow openings, basically inventing your own style for reaching one of the platforms. But that was not all. For reaching the sails you had to step an unbelievably long step towards a tiny rope. Then balancing your body weight between that ropie under your feet and stomach supported by the yard. Then, step by step, you had to move away from the mast and towards the end of the yard, another person possibly following you which made the rope even more stuttering. It was thrilling! That height and overcoming the doubts of “if I can.” Being up there I just forgot about the heights and did my job. I trusted my body that it will not do anything that would cause damage. It was also an excellent exercise for teamwork. Frankly, most participants loved climbing, although some did not and they were not forced to do it. One thing was climbing up as a participant, in that case, one could just do as much as one wanted. The other thing was doing it as a watch leader. In that case, I had to do. You had to go further up and further down the yard and it required more courage. In the harbours, locals often came to see these monkey people and were staring at us.

In harbours, it sometimes felt like living in a zoo. People came to see the ship and it was impossible to privately spend time on the deck. They were just staring in a manner that should be considered impolite but we got used to it. 

A fun part of our tasks was cleaning. I did not like this part but however, but I still call it fun. Because. Imagine cleaning in an unsteady house. You take the vacuum cleaner and it just rolls away from you as the floor changes its angle and then as it is coming back runs over your toes. The fellow cleaners also hop around like electrons, trying to maintain their balance, it was just surreal.  

The parts I loved the most were the night watches. At this time of the day, you break free from the habit of sleeping and show up on the deck. For the next four hours, the safety of all of the sleeping crew members is in the hands of your watch. Having the helm in hand at nighttime feels POWERFUL. 

At these dark hours, we were gasping the stars, observing Moonrises and Moonsets. As we snuggled together under a warm blanket with a warm tea, we talked about our dreams and fears, about the meaning of life, philosophy and astrophysics, fresh salty breeze kissing our cheeks. Sometimes, if the internet connection allowed, someone of us put on a night watch playlist. Our favourite was Ben Howard and I still listen to his songs over and over. The starry sky was just breathtaking and the deep darkness was broken by bioluminescent plankton or jellyfish.

Some of the most vivid memories are also from the night watches because of the challenges they brought. In the stormy weather, it was just impossible to see the high waves that hit our Atyla. With every hit they altered our course ca 30 degrees and it required sharp attention to keep the ship on the course. Feet widely spread we held the balance as the strongest waves hit and the ship was waving A LOOOT. In thought, I was apologising to the people who were inside. It was much worse for them. Even for us the deck suddenly felt so small. Hopefully, they had all things secured. The thermoses and wardrobe doors and hopefully the trash bins in the heads (toilets) did not fall over.

Haah, in the Mediterranean there was also some bastard who every night, as soon as midnight approached, started to record absolute nonsense on channel 16. It varied from just making stupid voices to whispering “I can’t see you but I can smell you” and “I will kill you.” Then one night there was another idiot who begged his captain to please let him in the door for 15 minutes. The other night as we were close to the Moroccan coast there was some Arab music playing on the VHF radio. Please never use channel 16 for anything other than operational info and emergencies! 

Once we had to take down the square sail due to approaching low pressure. This meant going to the bow despite, and because of strong waves. Let me remind you, in the strong winds the bow was the most adventurous place to be. Waves constantly reaching us over the reeling, the four of us had to untie all the buntlines, clew lines and reefing lines, pull them in the right order, not to mess them up and coil again. In the dark. We had headlamps but still. Someone coiled some lines to the wrong cleat and it took some time and effort to make it correctly. Raindrops fell from my nose and my feet were almost dry in neoprene socks, I was happy about the success.

These types of challenges teach responsibility and critical thinking. In these conditions, a small mistake can lead to severe consequences. In rough weather, things happen. Something or someone may just break or fall. For example, a thermos full of hot coffee. I remember one serious accident. In these conditions, all doors have to be tied tightly. You do not want anything left between these doors. Once with wavy weather, our officer’s finger was left between a slapping door. It broke. Luckily we had a nurse among the participants. For the next three days, we used the support of the engine for reaching the land and doctor more quickly. 

The sea had a different face each day and a different feeling altogether. One day it was silvery and lazy like mercury. The other day it was foggy and mysterious. One day at the helm it was so calm that I broke a personal record - not touching the helm for 10 minutes. The ship kept its course perfectly. I only allowed plus-minus five degrees variation on the compass.

In our free time, we liked to stay on the sunny or stormy deck, read books, wrote diaries and sunbathe but most importantly, made strong bonds with the diverse people who were sharing this experience with us. There were 15-years old teenagers and 75-years old grandfathers, everyone had stories to tell. Together with our engineer and 1st officer, we practised sextant calculations. Oh, they were a hard nut to crack! We played games like “Would I Lie to You” or the game where everyone gets a secret victim and has to "kill" them by making them say a certain word. We made lots of music. One of our watch leaders Florian was especially talented and together with him and our cook Anna we had a band called Bedroom Community. It consisted of a guitar, melodica and jew’s harp, someone singing and occasionally playing rhythms on a spontaneous drum. There was a lot of music making.

Sometimes we anchored and these days were the most relaxing. While underway we had to operate in non-stop shifts. In the harbours, we had to open Atyla for the guests which required the whole crew. But while anchoring we did just maintenance and went snorkelling. In the Balearic Islands, the water was crystal clear and I could explore the ship from under the water as well as the seabed from 20 meters above. 

However, the stay in Mallorca was not perfect because half of the permanent crew had fallen into Covid by then. This meant we could not visit the islands and those who were less sick had to do extra shifts for those who felt worse. I was one of the first ones to fall ill. It was unpleasant but luckily lasted only for a week. The worst symptom was that my period started at the time when it was least expected. Since I was not expecting it at all I had no female hygiene products. And no possibility to visiting stores. Yeah, lesson learned. Always, always have more hygiene products than you need when on a ship. At the same time, I really enjoyed smell hallucinations as a symptom. 

The open ships were most stressful for the crew. They entailed lots of preparations and staying on the boat while one would prefer to explore the new city. Once in Porto, an open ship was scheduled. Unfortunately, the plans did not take into account the tide schedule. It was low tide and our deck was 2.5 meters below the pier. It was physically impossible to let people on board, even the crew could not get out of the ship and waited for the tide to rise. Some man came and started shouting at me saying that he came to see the ship from the other city and we must let him on board. "Sorry, you are talking to the wrong person," I replied. He should have talked to the gods of the sea. The sea is a god to whom even captains must obey. Once we were very close to a serious accident due to the rapidly lowering sea level, after that we decided to discontinue open ship during low tides. 

It was also challenging for the crew to arrive and leave the ship sometimes. For example, we went out during a high tide and everything was smooth. Then coming back after dinner and a few drinks and the sea level had fallen ca 2 meters. Now try to reach the deck from above. The ship is constantly moving away from the pier, leaving a wide and dangerous hole between the pier and itself. Basically, someone (the strongest person or a few of them) had to grab a mooring line and pull the ship closer. The other ones jumped on the shrouds and climbed down. For this reason, I do not recommend returning alone later in the evening because there may not be anyone to help. 

Food. We were offered three meals per day. I was on the vegetarian menu but it was a bit too light for me. We had cereals and milk or yoghurt for the breakfast. There was always coffee and tea in the thermoses and our cook baked fresh sourdough bread. For lunch and dinner, we had some pasta, lasagna, stew or salad mostly. Unfortunately, because of the seasickness, covid that messed up my digestion and also relatively light menu, I lost 3 kg within a month. It is something about the fresh air that makes me so hungry. I am a skinny type of person with a fast metabolism so I can’t allow too much weight loss and three somewhat light meals were not enough for me. During the first stop when we stayed in Vigo I went on land and had a three-course seafood lunch. It was followed by a coffee and croissant in another cafe. Then I proceeded to a pizza parlour and had a pig loaf of pizza. And then ice cream. And then some chocolate. It is just my body that needed to resupply its calories after two days of vomiting. Seasickness at its best. I do not recommend seasickness as a weight loss method. However, I can recommend some best spots for fish feeding and some tips on the topic "How to kind of survive seasickness."

Obviously, all the freshwater came in canisters which were refilled in the harbours. For a while, something happened to them and all the water tasted like chemicals. Luckily the containers were replaced with new ones soon after our complaints. 

We run the generator for cooking and keeping our refrigerators cold four times a day. These were also the times of the day when we could charge our phone batteries. Despite that, one day the temperature in the most used refrigerator where we kept our drinks and snacks rose up to 23C. Still better than 29C in the saloon. For obvious reasons, we did not have air conditioning and airing the rooms was often limited due to the simple fact that water would come in together with the air.

Since we had such an international crew on board I tried to learn "Bon appetite" and maybe "good night" in each crew member’s language. Nationalities that first come to my mind are Spain, Poland, Estonia, Scotland, Latvia, the US, Germany, Finland, Turkey, Netherlands, Canada, Australia, and Switzerland. 

I celebrated my 25th birthday on board. It was the first time for me when I did not organise a party for friends and family. It was a somewhat lonely day because my phone did not have a connection. But in the end, I got greetings from dolphins, nature sent me the most marvellous starry sky and the crew surprised me with a whole band playing and a choir singing a birthday song! Usually, the cook baked a cake for the birthday but I did not get one 😟

What else…

Can we travel a lot? Yes and no. You will definitely see many lovely harbour towns which each have its own unique feeling. But for the permanent crew, there were always tasks to do. We could have some free time but not more than a couple of hours at a time for exploring the new location. You would definitely see more while travelling via land, but that would be a different kind of experience, right? You will definitely see some picturesque scenery. Maybe also take part in the hustle of one of the maritime festivals. 

Don’t expect maximal personal hygiene. There is not always enough fresh water for everyone to shower daily. Once in a few days and only short showers. No time to wait until the water becomes warm enough. Sometimes a big sign “No showers” lays on the whiteboard and this means that the freshwater tanks are not full enough for showering. Cooking and dishwashing are priorities. On longer legs, we filled big buckets with seawater and some clever person made a pipe system that led the water to the showers through the roof window, so we could at least have some sort of saltwater showers. 

Don’t expect privacy. The one little bunk with a curtain is the maximum privacy you can have. It is quite the opposite, tall ships are about bonding and making new friends. If you are happy they will know. If you are sad they will know as well.

By now you have probably understood that expecting a luxurious yacht cruise is a misunderstanding. Tall Ships are about hard work, challenges and personal development. On Atyla we usually also have a coach on board who will guide you during your development journey. 

You must accept all tasks that are thrown at you. Whether it be taking down a sail at 4 am in the morning after your night watch, cleaning the dishes of 20 people, serving food, wiping wood surfaces, bleaching toilets or keeping a line under tension. The most challenging task I was thrown to was collecting the oil leakage from bilge water in our engine room. This is an enclosed narrow space without a steady floor. The generator was rumbling as we were vacuuming oily water into a canister. “More product!” shouted my fellow watch leader Carmen as we wiped the remains of the oil with a sponge and a super-strong solvent. Returning into the saloon the 29C seemed so cool and relieving. It was around 40C down there. My rainboots, worn-out male jeans and an oversized t-shirt were wet with sweat. I deserved a shower now!

Do expect amazing time spent with fellow crew members on board as well as on land. We had an excellent time visiting local restaurants, bars and clubs, got to know local food and wines and sometimes partied on the boat. While on the sea alcohol is strictly prohibited but if you happen to take part in the Tall Ships Races or another kind of festival then big parties are guaranteed. You will have lots of inside jokes and good laughs to think back of. 

Do expect marine life. Depending on the location, it is a high probability of seeing dolphins and even whales. We also saw a huge jellyfish and just five minutes later we passed by a big turtle just two meters away from us!

And the adventures do not end once the sailing is over. When I had to reach to airport in Genova at 3 at night, our captain who had just returned from captain’s dinner offered his hand. He was concerned about my safety of having a 40-minute walk in this city. The taxi drivers were on strike but by myself, I was almost comfortable walking to the airport. 20 minutes of the walk was just to reach outside the enormous marina. He offered to drop me halfway with a dinghy. The thing is, the marina was like a labyrinth. It was dark and we could easily get lost. Moreover, we did not know if there was a fence separating the pier and the street at the very end. Stepping into the little dinghy with luggage felt just like so unusual thing to do. We were racing so fast that I was afraid he won’t see a pier in the dark and we would crash into it. I had Google Maps opened for navigation but we were still struggling to find the right way. Finally, we reached the end of the marina. I had to climb just a small fence. With luggage. But okay. And off I went!

I remember my first night on Atyla. I was laying on the cabin floor, trying to dress up for my night watch but could not stand up for longer than a minute without throwing up. I was scared to death but told that I am just feeling unwell to the captain who was calmly passing by and nodded knowingly. Who would have thought that this experience will develop into these extraordinary and unforgettable memories?

Now, if you want to experience it on your own, you can easily book a trip for the next season. No prior experience is required but! Warning! The experience will probably transform you into a better person and it is a high chance of becoming addicted to the sea.