Sunday of the Tall Ships event in St Petersburg and all the crews took part in a big parade along the riverside.
“A big-ass Norwegian waving a big-ass Norwegian flag. That's what you need.”
I couldn't have put it better myself.
Stian and his flag were so 'big-ass' that they did their waving from the back of Sørlandet's crew section. Here's the view to the fore.
The parade finished in front of the Central Naval Museum where a large stage was erected.
Prizes were for 1st,2nd & 3rd (handicap corrected times) in categories A, B, C, D – we were class A because we were 'big-ass', coming 2nd : the Result – and various other categories... cynics amongst us might reclassify them as 'Russian Ships' categories... though Russian ships didn't win all the other categories. One they did win was the 'First Across the Line', claimed by the giant ship Mir, crewed by professional sailors, based in St Petersburg. Presentation of that award was met with chants of 'En-gine, en-gine, en-gine' from the assembled crews led by the colourful (orange of course) and noisey Dutch. Certainly the Russians have a reputation amongst the crews.
Full award list can be found here : Tall Ships results from Sail Training International
And who was the admirable figure who presented the prizes to the valiant captains and trainees?
None other than the big man himself... Vlad the Impaler! Ooops! Typo. Let's try that again:
None other than the big man himself... Vladimir Putin!
Here he is, impaling us with his best belittling look.
I'll interpret that face... it says:
“Don't mess with me. I know judo and topless fishing. You are little people.”
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