Statsraad Lehmkuhl left Horta in the Azores just over three weeks ago and is now sailing along the coast of Brazil with first-year cadets and officers from the Norwegian Naval Academy on board. The ship has never been so far away from home as she is now.
February 13 Captain Jens Joachim Hiorth writes in his daily report:
- "As I said, we are now further south than we have ever been, but today we can also say that we are further away than ever. When Statsraad Lehmkuhl, owned by Hilmar Reksten in 1973, was leased to the American ‘Oceanics School’, they visited some exotic places such as Bathurst in the Gambia, and Belem on the Amazon Delta. Belem is located around 4500 nautical miles from Bergen and has then for almost 50 years been listed as 'the place furthest behind the horizon'. This is no longer the case - our beloved home port is now close to 4,600 nautical miles away. That's pretty far. All well on board."
Arrival in Rio
23 February is the date for arriving Rio de Janeiro. By then, the ship has spent a month at sea and sailed almost four thousand nautical miles since leaving the Azores. In Rio, the Norwegian Consulate General will arrange a seminar on green technology and sustainability on the main deck. Due to the pandemic, there will not be arranged "Open ship" for the public. At port, crew changes, provisioning and maintenance tasks awaits.
After three days in port in Rio, "Exercise Sea Legs" continues for the young cadets. The Naval College will take the ship south to Punta Arenas in Chile and on to Ushuaía, Argentina, where the journey is completed by sailing around Cape Horn at the end of March.
Thirteen ports in six months
Since departing from Arendal in August 2021, Statsraad Lehmkuhl has visited La Courna (Spain), Lisbon (Portugal), Cadiz, Las Palmas (Spain), Wilhelmstad (Curacao), Port royal (Jamaica), Havana, (Cuba), Nassau (Bahamas), Miami, New York, Newport (USA) and Horta (Azores).
Including Rio, the ship will have visited 13 different ports during the frist six months of The One Ocean Expedition.
Covid
Covid continues to be a highly present factor, especially due to entry restrictions and crew changes during port calls. Nevertheless, we have experienced that an outbreak can be handled.
Just before arriving in New York in December, Covid was detected on board. The ship doctor and crew quickly gained control of the situation, but the Christmas holiday turned out quite differently than expected for some of the crew members. Shortly after New Year, the expedition could continue as planned, on schedule.
Optimistic
Despite Covid, the expedition has been a success so far. It is far from easy to arrange a circumnavigation during a pandemic. But with helpful assistance, especially from the Norwegian foreign service missions, the ship has arrived in and left the the different ports as scheduled.
During the first six months, no one has become seriously ill or injured. The research instruments send their data ashore via satellite, as planned, and the collection of scientific samples is also on track. We are optimistic about the expedition continued course.
We are optimistic and in good faith that the impact of the pandemic will diminish, as the vaccination rate increases in the countries we plan to visit.
One Ocean Week
When Statsraad Lehmkuhl returns to her home port after almost two years at sea, Bergen municipality will arrange The One Ocean Week, an international gathering with conferences, seminars and workshops on marine research and sustainability.
All the research data from the ship will be collected and the findings will eventually be presented in reports from the Institute of Marine Research and the other research communities participating in the project.
