I choose to interrupt the “go west” series here. It will continue soon. And why? Late yesterday, emerging from the fires over in Sarnia it came . . .
to enter the Black River.
Draken‘s a beauty with carved European oakwood
like above on the bow cap rail and below on one of many oarlock covers.
Below it’s the captain to the right and the district 3 Lakes Pilot to the left as
international crew prepares to slips the dock lines and
head northward into a stormy Huron night.
tugster: a waterblog 
5 comments
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July 14, 2016 at 10:25 am
Bonnie K. Frogma
Lovely! Thanks for the close-ups!
July 14, 2016 at 10:37 am
mageb
Marvelous details. Do let us know if you find out about those huge pilotage fees,.
July 14, 2016 at 11:10 am
eastriver
Shameful pilot fees for such a small craft:
http://gcaptain.us11.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=9d589e63fba611f84640a8337&id=9f3fb156c5&e=aaad97cace
July 24, 2016 at 5:19 pm
tugster
Belated but still apropos statement from Lakes Pilots on Draken and pilotage fees: “Pilot group says Viking ship group was aware of U.S. pilotage requirements, costs
7/23 – Port Huron, Mich. – The Norwegian Viking Ship Draken Harald Harfagre is on its way to Chicago from Bay City, Mich., for the Tall Ships celebration on July 27-31, despite having to pay pilotage fees on the Great Lakes. They have decided to keep participating in the Tall Ships Challenge after a public campaign to collect donations has raised over $65,000.
The organization behind the Viking ship, Draken Expedition America, has claimed that it was caught unaware of U.S. pilotage requirements when they entered the St. Lawrence Seaway in early June after being told by the Canadian Great Lakes Pilotage Authority that they are were exempt because they were less than 35 meters long.
The U.S. pilotage regulations are different and base requirements on whether a foreign-flag vessel is conducting commercial activity on the Great Lakes such as collecting fees to attend events and to provide tours for paying passengers, much like cruise ships. If the Viking ship were not accepting any fees and open to the public for free, they would be exempt from all pilot requirements.
The Draken organization calculated in June that they will need to raise a sensational $430,000 to continue on. They are now estimating $260,000 because they are traveling at a higher rate of speed, which is still too high by our estimate. In October of 2015, the U.S. pilot companies handling pilotage where the events are scheduled, sent estimates of $192,000 for the Viking ship’s transit costs at the request of Tall Ships America Director, Patricia Lock, for their whole itinerary on the Great Lakes. That figure, based on 6 knots speed, was later revised downward by 15% after the new lower rates were published April 1.
The ship is now making additional stops in Alpena, Beaver Island and Frankfort, Michigan and collecting fees for tours. The vessel is traveling under sail and engine making speeds of 8.5 to 10 knots. The latest total round-trip cost estimate for the Viking ship for all the scheduled ports using the starting and ending point of Massena N.Y., on the St. Lawrence River, is $155,000 at 8.5 knots speed.
In November, the spokesperson of the Draken Expedition, Woodrow Wiest, acknowledged that pilotage was mandatory for the entire Great Lakes in an email circulated to all pilotage districts by the U.S. Coast Guard. In addition, a meeting was held in Cleveland in February attended by Patricia Lock, the U.S. Coast Guard Director of Great Lakes Pilotage Todd Haviland and all three U.S. pilotage district presidents to discuss U.S. pilotage rules and rates. It was made clear that there would be no exceptions to the U.S. regulations for the tall ships. The regulations for Great Lakes pilotage are clearly available under both the U.S. and Canadian pilotage authorities’ websites.
The Viking ship organization had all this information before the voyage started from Norway on April 26. Despite an exemption from Canadian pilotage, they voluntarily hired pilots in the Canadian waters of the St. Lawrence Seaway and Welland Canal for fees of CDN $17,000.
The estimated attendance for the five Tall Ship events on the U.S. side is 1.5 million. The foreign-flag tall ships are the most popular at these events. After paying an entrance fee to each event, another $12 on average is charged per person for a dockside tour of the 10 or so participating ships. When you add up these fees, plus cruise fees of $65 to $150 per person and sponsorships of up to $45,000 per port, the total revenue collected by a foreign-flag tall ship could easily exceed $1.5 million just in the U.S. ports alone. The vessel has already stopped in Brockville and Toronto, Ont.
Pilots are hired to direct ships in every port and congested waterway in the world. The reason is to have a local expert navigator to prevent accidents and environmental catastrophes. The foreign-flag tall ships are manned by very capable captains. Even so, we find that they are very appreciative that they have pilots on board for their 3,000-mile Great Lakes transit.
Over the last 30 years, over 40 tall ships that came into the Great Lakes were required by law to have a pilot. They came and left without any public campaign to avert costs. The Viking ship organization was adequately informed in advance of their US pilotage requirements and costs.
Lakes Pilots Association, Inc.”
July 26, 2016 at 2:49 pm
tugster
Here’s more on this: http://www.mlive.com/news/bay-city/index.ssf/2016/07/everything_you_need_to_know_ab_3.html