With a helicopter from TV2 News hovering over the Viking Ship Museum and two camera-crews from the Danish Broadcasting Corporation and TV2 covering the event on the ground the Sea Stallion slowly slid back into Roskilde Fjord.
This really brings ship and crew to the final stage of preparations, attending to all the minor details up to the historic voyage to Dublin.
Prior to the departure Sunday July 1st special attention will be paid to safety onboard. All crewmembers must complete a safety training course, and later on a major evacuation exercise will be conducted out on the fjord. On this occasion the crew will learn how to abandon ship quickly and effectively in the event of ship wreck.
Another few training trips await the ship and crew, to freshen up the routines of earlier years and drill the last bits and pieces into place.
Almost there
“The ship is as good as ready. We only need to improve and reinforce here and there, and then we are ready to venture out on the demanding route across the North Sea and into the Atlantic Ocean. The crew is also ready. So we really only lack the most important thing; to train safety in the equipment chosen for the voyage,” head of secretariat Preben Rather Sørensen explains.
“The safety training course takes place in May, where we will go through the different procedures related to evacuating the ship, in case of an accident. We will do whatever necessary to minimise the risk of accidents, but going in an open boat through the seas that we are going through, will indisputably be dangerous. That is why the state of the art safety equipment we bring along is so important. And that is why it is important for us to drill safety to the point where no one on board has any doubt what to do, should the situation occur”.
The best crew
On a beautiful day in April by the peaceful Roskilde Fjord it may be difficult to imagine dramatic and foul weather or a crisis situation.
“But it is good seamanship always to prepare for the worst possible scenario. And it is also good seamanship to set out with an experienced crew. And you are not likely to find a better Viking ship crew than the one on the Sea Stallion. The majority has been onboard since the launch in 2004, giving us many, many ours of experience for the journey,” Preben Rather Sørensen states.
