A dream sets sail

The glorious age of sail can be relived aboard a luxurious clipper, writes GLYN MAY.

It didn't mean much to the honeymoon couple sipping champagne in the spa of their private suite on the main deck.

Nor, it seemed, was it of any interest to the elegant ladies perched at the tropical bar as the world's largest and newest sailing ship, Royal Clipper, lay at anchor in the tiny port of Porquerolles off the French Mediterranean coast.

But up on the bridge on this warm, balmy afternoon, a drama was under way.

For the first time in nearly 100 years a true, fully rigged, five-masted sailing ship, albeit a gleaming, $140 million luxury replica, was preparing to sail off its mooring.

While that piece of apparently inconsequential nautical nonsense may fail to stir the imaginations of those engaged in other indulgent pursuits on board a pleasure ship, it was a milestone revisited in maritime history.

Seemingly hemmed in at anchor by a cruise ship and scores of small craft off the port bow, and a rocky sea wall to starboard, Royal Clipper, under its dour German skipper, Captain Gerhard Lickfett, was undertaking a classic sailing manoeuvre that demands all of a master mariner's skills - and a little help from the wind.

Given that he had assistance from some friends at his fingertips - in particular, two 2500hp diesel engines and a nifty little bow-thruster - it wasn't really necessary to hoist the sails.

But, with a true sailor's disdain of engines and the opportunity to stir the ghosts of a thousand tortured souls that once worked the heaving decks of great sailing ships, the temptation was irresistible.

As had been done for centuries, Captain Lickfett winched up the anchor cable with the wind blowing from ahead and set the lower and upper topsails, two jibs and the lower fore-and-aft sails so that the ship slid astern.

He swung the rudder to port, resetting sails to propel the ship forward. The Royal Clipper slowly moved ahead and out to sea, its 42 sails filled with a strengthening breeze, carving a safe but majestic path through a maze of motor boats and yachts.

"This is a sailing ship," he snorted later, as the big engines rumbled into life to assist the sailing speed. "I do not like ice machines [engines]. Today we have made history."

The last full-rigged ship (one with square-rigged sails and three or more masts) was the five-masted German cargo clipper, the Preussen, built in 1902 in the twilight of the great age of sail when the advent of steam and the opening of the Suez Canal began to spell doom for the legendary greyhounds of the seas such as the Sea Witch, Flying Cloud and Cutty Sark.

In 1910, as the Preussen swept across Fan Bay near Dover, a cross-channel steamer on collision course misjudged the Preussen's speed and stove in its hull, sending the magnificent vessel to the bottom complete with a cargo of 100 grand pianos - a fitting orchestral finale, perhaps, to the era of the clippers.

And so it was, until, in 1952, a 6-year-old Swedish boy, Mikael Krafft, besotted with the magic of sail despite his tender years, was given a replica of the Preussen by his parents, and a dream began to one day reinvent the romance of clipper ships, but this time with passengers and pampering.

In 1991, by then a world-renowned yachtsman, ship owner and businessman, he launched the world's first true replica luxury passenger clipper ship, the 110m Star Flyer, a four-masted barquentine carrying 180 passengers.

A year later a sister ship, the Star Clipper, followed.

But all the while, Krafft cherished the concept of building the world's greatest and most luxurious sailing ship. In July this year, the vision inspired by the Preussen became a reality when the Queen of Sweden christened the 133.8m Royal Clipper in the twinkling fairyland of Monaco harbour in the presence of power-brokers, celebrities and film stars including Roger Moore, of 007 fame, who had simply walked down the road from his villa in the tiny tax-haven to join the party.

At quayside lay an object of immense and classical beauty: five huge masts reaching 60m into the evening sky, 42 sails furled against a bewildering maze of spars, ropes and rigging, glistening brass and scrubbed decks.

As bejewelled guests began to stroll its staterooms and suites, a casual observer might have been excused for musing that, for these seriously rich and famous citizens, it was all going to be a bit of a yawn.

But indifference, if there was any, quickly turned to wonder. Where else was there a majestic sailing ship that combined the ambience of a high-tech millionaire's private mega yacht with the promise of soft adventure underneath 5202 sq m of billowing sails?

Then there were the three swimming pools, the intimacy of only 228 passengers, more deck space per person (9 sq m) than most luxury liners and veranda suites with marble spa baths and 24-hour butler service.

And below decks in the Captain Nemo lounge (with floodlit portholes through which to watch the underwater world go by) a bar, lounges and a beauty salon.

Amidships, the visual focus is an atrium (the first on any true sailing ship) which allows natural light to stream through the glass-bottomed main swimming pool and spill down the spiral staircases into a lavishly appointed dining room.

There's also a plush, wood-panelled library (with chess sets, backgammon, gin rummy, bridge and chequers) and a quiet piano lounge. Pokies, floor shows and regimentation are definitely not on the menu.

For the more adventurous, it's possible to climb up rope ladders to either of the five crow's nests, settle down on a soft-padded sofa and call for a bottle of champagne to be hoisted aloft. Coming down is another story.

CASENOTES:

Sailings: In the European summer, Royal Clipper sails from Cannes on two separate seven-night cruises: west to Porquerolles, Minorca, Majorca, Barcelona, Palamos and St Tropez; and then to Corsica, Sardinia, Elba, Portofino and Monte Carlo.

In the winter she makes a 21-day crossing of the Atlantic for a season cruising from Barbados around the Caribbean.

Costs: Cruise-only prices range from about $A2545 a week a person. Bookings made before February 28, 2001, attract a $300 discount.

Contact: Call Creative Cruising New Zealand, ph: (09) 379 4450.