Happy New Year!

With the end of November the sailing season has come to a close. But also the moored life of the Shtandart is seething inside all Shtandardians as it boils over into the year 2015, in which adventures, achievements and new horizons await us.

Meeting people, photo-exhibitions movie-shows in Moscow and Saint Petersburg,  about ocean voyages, lectures on the theory of sailing vessels, including their construction on the wharf, and, finally, a sparkling New Years Ball, all of this makes the team of volunteers of the “Shtandart Project” stronger and stronger, even when they are far away from their beloved ship.

Well, the Shtandart is in the German town of Lubeck now, where she will be hibernating. There the crew is receiving guests, preparing to celebrate the New Year with friends, and slowly starting maintenance work. A new set of sails is almost ready in Poland, the purchasing and sewing of which became possible especially thanks to people who care for and support the project via the platform “boomstarter”.

In the workshop “the Shtandart” the new “Captain's Gig” is taking shape. This large wooden vessel will become the fourth member of the “Shtandart” fleet, and her launch is planned for 2015, in the mean time allowing everybody to partake of the secrets of wooden ships construction. The oak frame is already finished, as is the larch paneling. Our wharf will be open and active on holidays and other days-off, starting January 3rd. Our Chief Ships-Carpenter – Sergej Alfeevich Neustupov – will be ready to explain everything to all who come, and after the work is done we will all get together in the Admirals Cabin for herbal tea and small talk. In November we have started a series of lectures on sailing three-masted historical vessels and on sailing the yawl. This is to teach the fundamentals necessary for those who want to put to sea together with us in the next season.

Thanks to our talented photographer, the designer Elena Kuznetsova, and thanks to her care and diligence, we are now able to offer a beautiful calendar for the year 2015. Besides a memorable photograph, it also contains brief notes about the history of the project and an exposé of the plans for the next season. The calendar will not only be a wonderful gift for those who have never been on the Standart, but it also will inspire memories for those who already sailed with her and have plans to return. Those who want to order a copy should write to press-center@shtandart.ru

Replacing the sails is only a small part of all the work planned for the winter season. After the holidays, the ships crew will proceed with servicing the ship. A lot of work lays ahead in the next few months, and we really need help! The work will provide a great opportunity to see and learn how historical wooden ships are built, to learn to work with the material, to do something useful with ones own hands, and to get to know the ships crew and to work shoulder to shoulder with them and their Captain. Besides all this, it will provide a good opportunity to learn the Russian language, although the group of volunteers on board is traditionally international.

The crew of the Shtandart and their Captain all wish you a very Happy New Year! We all hope you will never give up, that you will go ahead with confidence and that you will not be afraid to follow your dreams! Most important to us is that dreams should be fulfilled! We wish you favorable winds and great adventures!