20th June: Schtandart at Beaulieu River
I had gone to NCI Stone Point in Lepe Country Park in the hope of getting some photos of the classic yachts competing in the Richard Mille Cup. They were using East Lepe as the first course mark and I became aware of a “small” square rigger in the same area. At the time I, and the Watchkeepers on duty, thought she was perhaps a film industry replica.
It was only when I got home I discovered that she was actually the fully functional 1999 replica of of the 1703 Russian Frigate Schtandart. I’d actually been on board her when she was one of the Show Features at the 2019 Southampton Boat Show! She only looked small in comparison to the large (up to 65m) yachts racing at the time.
She was not flying the Russian ensign, although the pennant looks Russian. It must be so very difficult for them. Their website stresses her international crew and makes the statement “We believe in the need for peaceful resolution of conflicts, we have been and will always be against violence and the forceful solution of problems. And we believe that sooner or later people will learn to trust each other again. Here, on Shtandart, we see that this is possible.”