Tall stories

CROUCHING on deck, clinging on for life as waves crashed over the side of the 45ft Bowman Corsair Ocean Racer, Oliver Peek thought he’d never see dry land again.

A torrential hailstorm and huge gusts of wind were rocking the boat from side to side and, at one point, he was convinced it was going to tip over.

Yet, looking back now at his first time sailing on the Tall Ships, Oliver says it was the best experience of his life.

A 26-year old trainee teacher from Billingham, near Stockton, he is among 6,000 young people worldwide who take part in the Tall Ships races every year.

This summer is the first time Hartlepool has the honour of being the final host port. Organisers are expecting 67 ships and up to one million people. It is the largest free event in Britain this year.

Having sailed on the Black Diamond of Durham and seen first-hand what it’s like to be out at sea (he’s done three races to date), Oliver is working as a liaision officer this time, looking after the crews on shore.

The main aim is to give young people a chance to learn new skills and make friends from other countries. At least half the crew on the Tall Ships must be aged between 15 and 25 and it’s seen by many as the opportunity of a lifetime.

Oliver was 19 when he took part in his first race from Hartlepool to Brest, in France, and on to La Coruna, in Spain. A laid-back student with long hair and used to a life of luxury, Oliver admits he was “a bit of a delicate thing”

when he set off. He came back a changed man.

“It gets pretty desperate on board,” he says.

“You can’t shower or wash, and it’s hard to keep the loo clean when the ship is tossing around all the time. Once you’re wet with sea water, it’s difficult to get dry again and there’s nowhere to hang things.”

Working four hours on, four hours off, for five days solid, Oliver soon found himself pushed to his limits – not only deprived of sleep, but with a sodden sleeping bag and tilting bunk to boot.

“There were seven bunks on board, but we couldn’t sleep in half of them because the ship was tilting to one side and we’d roll off,” he says. “With the boat bouncing around constantly it was difficult to get into bed without hitting your head and then you’d get drips of water on your face and on your sleeping bag.”

As if conditions weren’t demanding enough, on his first trip Oliver was struck down with a severe bout of sea-sickness. “I could feel myself turning green,” he recalls. “I was sick nonstop for 24 hours, off and on for another 24 hours and queasy for the remainder of the trip.

The skipper said there was only one cure for sea-sickness and that was to tie yourself to an oak tree. In other words, I had to sit it out.”

When he didn’t have his head in a bucket, one of Oliver’s key tasks was to keep a lookout for passing tankers, oil rigs and lobster pots.

With the lack of sleep, this was no mean feat and at one point he felt he was hallucinating.

‘IT can be eerie out on watch; sometimes you start to see things that aren’t really there,” he says. “I saw a light coming straight towards us once. I thought we were doomed, but it turned out to be nothing.”

If there’s one thing guaranteed to take a sailor’s mind off the lack of sleep, it’s storm clouds looming overhead. Oliver says the worst weather he experienced was in the Baltic.

“It was bright and sunny one minute, then suddenly the wind picked up and it started to get a bit choppy,” he says. “We were skirting around the edge of the squall, then the skipper said, ‘right, we’re going through’. The next minute, it was like a tornado had hit us. It was hail-stoning and the wind was so loud we had to shout to be heard. We only had a tiny bit of sail left and I was terrified the boat was going to get blown over. I remember hanging onto the handrail for dear life. It was extremely scary.”

As soon as they reached the middle of the storm, it was totally calm, then they had to go through it all again to get to the other side.

Passing tankers and storm clouds aside, the crew also had to keep an eye out for flying cutlery.

Oliver remembers one crew member standing in the galley putting his trousers on when there was such a strong wave one of the drawers came unhinged and a knife came flying out, missing him by inches.

While the mental and physical exhaustion was certainly testing, the worst thing about being on board, according to Oliver, was not knowing the football scores.

Although there is a “work hard, play hard”

mentality among the crews (who have a tendency to get drunk as soon as they hit dry land), organisers are trying to put more of an emphasis on the sport, health and fitness side.

Oliver admits he was a bit on the hefty side when he set off and lost a stone in weight– despite a diet of Mars bars, cup soups and noodles.

Apart from one day’s training in Hartlepool, Oliver had no previous sailing experience when he headed off on his first Tall Ships race – something he hopes will encourage other people to volunteer.

“One of the old skippers once compared sailing to standing under a cold shower tearing up tenners. But there’s nothing like approaching a place by sea.

“It’s no holiday, but it toughens you up as a person and you make really fabulous friends.

It’s an experience I’ll never forget. It changed my life.”

Event Information

■ One million people are expected to visit Hartlepool during the event, the 54th Tall Ships Races, spending an estimated £16m in Hartlepool and the surrounding area.

■ Each year, between 60 and 100 ships from 15 to 20 countries take part in the event. The first race this year will see ships sail from Antwerp, in Belgium, to Aalborg, in Denmark. The fleet will then cruise to Kristiansand, in Norway, for the start of the second and final race to Hartlepool.

■ The Tall Ships Races will not return to UK waters until 2014.

■ A 55,000sq m Tall Ships Village will be established for the event. There will be three firework displays, on Saturday, Sunday and Monday, at 9.45pm.

■ While the event officially runs from Saturday to Tuesday, vessels could start arriving as early as today. The Tall Ships Village will be open to the public on Friday.

■ At least 25,000 park and ride car parking spaces will be provided each day.