WesWorld

... i got a little bit singed on the Saturday while visiting the various naval vessels in Den Helder. It was a fun day, although there were a number vessels where the bags had to be left behind and no photography was allowed inside the ship which is something that usually has a negative effect on me (if I can't take pictures then it is not really worth my time and I usually go through things rather quickly). I was kinda thinking of going today (Sunday) as well for the various demonstrations that are being given, but the weather service here is warning for extremely dangerous weather in the afternoon so will stay home and probably watch a bunch of lunatics on bikes battling for some yellow-colored t-shirt as they are going to encounter the predicted extremely dangerous weather...

In the mean time, a few pics that I took...


Belgian Frigate Leopold I.

Bow of the Dutch Submarine Dolfijn.

Dutch Submarine Zeeleeuw.

Dutch Submarine Bruinvis. It was possible to get a guided tour on her as well as the Walrus, but you had to get tickets somewhere to be able to do that. Since I originally missed the location, by the time I found it, tickets were no longer available. Even so, no bags allowed and no photography either. The white boat to the right moving away is the old pilot boat Castor which was used for the pirate demonstration and for the price of 12.50 euros it was possible to be part of that demonstration.

... and now two different ways of checking and storing bags...
... the way it was done aboard the LPD Johan de Witt...

... and the way it was done for the LPD Rotterdam (actually "the picking up your bag" part)...

In my opinion it was way better handled aboard the Johan de Witt than aboard the Rotterdam. It is possible that they were a bit easier aboard the Johan de Witt for it was okay for me to take along my bag. I haven't been on board of the Rotterdam (obviously due to the ridiculously long line for picking up the bags) but I am fairly sure that I would have had to leave my bag there. The big problem is that even if you did not leave a bag behind, you would most likely be stuck in that long line anyway while with the Johan de Witt there was plenty of space inside for people to go and pick up their bag and for those who did not have a bag to walk right by any potential line-ups.

Still in all it looks as if you had a good day of it.

Yeah, looks like a fun day. To me the Castor seems most appealing... For some reason I always find older vessels more interesting than brand new ones. Might be because of the stories behind...

http://archive.hnsa.org/ships/castor.htm

Quoted

Still in all it looks as if you had a good day of it.

... it was a good day except for the bloody hot weather. Yesterday saw some fairly bad weather so it may not have been a bad idea to stay at home (can't see much of the demonstrations when you are sheltering inside one of the ships). While the cycling lunatics encountered some as well, I think they managed to slip past the back of the worst of the weather.

Another big minus point of the days was that (according to the site of the Ministry of Defense) the demo season of the Apache Demo Team started on Saturday, but it wasn't flying with its cool color scheme but in the standard boring dark green Apache color scheme. Probably another casualty of idiots at the Ministry of Defense. Last year our demo F-16's colors, this year the demo Apache's colors.

Quoted

To me the Castor seems most appealing... For some reason I always find older vessels more interesting than brand new ones.

It's a nice vessel... though looking at the "before" photos, the toilet used to be a quite questionable...
http://www.loodsboot.eu/voor_&_na.htm

I was visiting the Johan de Witt when she was taking part in the first anti pirate demonstration but it was hard to see with everyone crowded on the side of the helicopter deck watching the show. Thinking about it, it might be a deliberate thing that the Johan de Witt and the Rotterdam are placed on either side of the demo area so that people can make use of them to watch the show (as well as from the shore).

I guess better luck (and more acceptable weather) next time...

A few more pics...


The Lublin from Poland taken from aboard the Johan de Witt.

Traffic jam leading up to the bridge of the Van Speijk.

No drugs allowed aboard the Zeeland.

Navy Diver launching a sponge attack on some off screen kids.

Something different... Today the batteries of my camera lasted longer than my own batteries. I feel quite exhausted after all the walking. All photos with my D5100 + 10-20mm lens (tall ships really required the 10mm end a lot )

... also it has been a while since Wesworld's tall ships have been busy.


Tarangini from India.


Mir from Russia.


Artemis from the Netherlands surrounded by some smaller stuff.


Aboard the Kruzenshtern from Russia.


Aboard the Kruzenshtern.


Aboard the Mir.


Sedov from Russia


Gloria from Colombia.


Sagres from Portugal. It was nice to see this ship in real life as I have used a modified photo of it for Wesworld Japan's tall ship Ningyo.

Neat!

You know, photobucket is starting to seriously p*ss me off.

I had the photos uploaded and the one of the masts and riggings of the Kruzenshtern was indicated as lying on its side yet when I checked the 'view image' option in photobucket it tilts the photo 90 degrees so it is viewed correctly. Before posting I checked the preview and the photo was indicated correctly so i posted it. Looking at the post now, the image is back lying on its side!!

So how do you guys see it? Are the masts pointing upwards in the photo or to the left?

12:9 aspect, masts going from right to left...

Very nice photos.

Yes, pointing to the left.

Trying it again...

Yup, that's better.