Norda
Encyclopedia
Norda is a wooden sailing vessel that was commissioned in 1928, originally used as a research vessel
Research vessel
A research vessel is a ship designed and equipped to carry out research at sea. Research vessels carry out a number of roles. Some of these roles can be combined into a single vessel, others require a dedicated vessel...

 in Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

. It served as research vessel, fishing vessel
Fishing vessel
A fishing vessel is a boat or ship used to catch fish in the sea, or on a lake or river. Many different kinds of vessels are used in commercial, artisanal and recreational fishing....

 and is now a yacht
Yacht
A yacht is a recreational boat or ship. The term originated from the Dutch Jacht meaning "hunt". It was originally defined as a light fast sailing vessel used by the Dutch navy to pursue pirates and other transgressors around and into the shallow waters of the Low Countries...

.

Research Vessel

The vessel was commissioned in 1928 by MIR (Polish Fishing Institute). It was built in 1928 to order of in the Andersen Shipyard in Frederikssunde, Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

. It was christened “Ewa
Ewa
Ewa can refer to:In geography:* Eastern Washington* 'Ewa Beach, Hawaii, unincorporated Census-designated place * Ewa Villages, Hawaii, an unincorporated community in the U.S...

”, inspired by the names of daughters of both Professor Michał Siedlecki and Dr Franciszek Lubecki, two distinguished scientists and maritime researches pioneers.

MIR owned another vessel that was almost the same: a few months earlier they acquired another cutter “Starnia”, which was also used for finding new fishing grounds and fisherman’s training. Both vessels played an important role in the development of the sea fishery industry in Poland.

The classical hull
Hull (watercraft)
A hull is the watertight body of a ship or boat. Above the hull is the superstructure and/or deckhouse, where present. The line where the hull meets the water surface is called the waterline.The structure of the hull varies depending on the vessel type...

 of the cutter, with straight bow and spoon shaped stern, was built form oak. The boat was built as a sailing vessel with an auxiliary motor. The propulsion system was composed of two-cylinder motor Tuxham of 64-76 hp and ketch rigged gaff sails. The GRT was 29 ton and the NRT was 10 ton. The total area of the four sails was 160 m2. Under the deck was space for crew of five people, four scientists and laboratory. When already in use as research vessel, a wheel house was built on the aft deck.

Till 1936 the cutter was commanded by Jan Lemke. In that time “Ewa” sailed the Baltic and was used for research expeditions organized by scientists form MIR, The Department of Economy and Organization of Fishery in Bydgoszcz, The Sea Fishery Laboratory form Hel
Hel
Hel may refer to:* Hel , a location in Norse mythology* Hel , ruler of Hel, the location* Hel , a Swedish Viking rock band* Hel, Poland, a town on the Polish Baltic coast* Hel Peninsula, the peninsula on which the town is situated...

 and departments of the Scientists Laboratory of Farming from Puławy. In 1932 those institutions were united in the maritime base in Hel, which was also the home harbor or Norda at that time. Those expeditions contributed to recognition of fishing grounds at the Baltic Sea and development of polish sea biology and ichthyology.

After six years of intensive exploitation “Ewa” had to be renovated. In 1939, during inspection at the Fishery Shipyard in Gdynia, it was ascertained that the hull had been seriously damaged (rotten) and the cutter was qualified to be destroyed. At that time Antoni Budzisz from Gdynia became interested in her. He bought the cutter from MIR and adapted her as a fishing boat. “Ewa” was being overhauled and the damaged parts of the hull were exchanged.

The German Occupation during World War II

The overhaul was unfortunately interrupted by the Second World War, but later it continued and it was finally completed in 1942. The overhaul was done in such way that the masts were cut and a more powerful motor was the only power source.

The cutter, at that time named “Putzig 2”, was used as fishing boat with the base port in Władysławowo
Władysławowo
Władysławowo is a town on the south coast of the Baltic Sea in the Kashubia in Eastern Pomerania region, northern Poland, with 15,015 inhabitants.-Overview:...

. Leon Budzisz was her captain
Captain (nautical)
A sea captain is a licensed mariner in ultimate command of the vessel. The captain is responsible for its safe and efficient operation, including cargo operations, navigation, crew management and ensuring that the vessel complies with local and international laws, as well as company and flag...

. Leon was a cousin of Antoni Budzisz, who died during the war.

According to Mr Jerzy Budzisz (the sun of Leon Budzisz) the vessel was called Anne Marie between 1941 and 1945.

On March 3rd 1945 the cutter was confiscated and used by a group of Germans (mainly postmen and soldiers) to escape from Hel
Hel, Poland
Hel is a town in Puck County, Pomeranian Voivodeship, Poland, located on the tip of the Hel Peninsula, some 33 kilometres from the Polish mainland.-Early developments:...

 to Köln
KOLN
KOLN, digital channel 10, is the CBS affiliate in Lincoln, Nebraska. It operates a satellite station, KGIN, on digital channel 11 in Grand Island. KGIN repeats all KOLN programming, but airs separate commercials...

. The group that escaped with Putzig-2 were mainly soldiers and postmen. According to the sun of Leon Budzisz, there were 100 people on board.

The swan-dance in Communist Poland

In 1946 she was traced down and brought back Gdynia. The General Sea Fishery Inspectorate assigned former “Ewa” to The Community “Rybak”, and she was renamed to “Wła – 17”. Leon Budzisz became once more her captain. After Community was closed down this same Leon Budzisz bought the cutter, and used it as a fishing boat till 1955 when he had to sell her due to financial problems. The cutter was bought by The Community “Gryf”. In 1958 the next overhaul had to be made. At that time the cutter was already deprived of sailing equipment and the spoon shaped overhang on the stern. Till half of the 80s the boat, renamed to Zag-9, was being exploited by two individual ship-owners. The base port was Gdańsk
Gdansk
Gdańsk is a Polish city on the Baltic coast, at the centre of the country's fourth-largest metropolitan area.The city lies on the southern edge of Gdańsk Bay , in a conurbation with the city of Gdynia, spa town of Sopot, and suburban communities, which together form a metropolitan area called the...

, Górki Zachodnie. Later they decided that it was not worth to make another repair of the hull.

Rebirth and new life

On July 1st 1986 the old cutter was bought from the fishermen Zygmunt Krukowski and Krzystof Klarwacki by Stanislaw Konopka,. Later he would start the rebuild together with Grzegorz Wozniak, who is geographer by the profession and sailor by passion and the owner of tourist office “Nord”. The price was 15'000 old Polish Zloty; this is now (due to the high inflation that followed) about the price of one bread. The new ship-owner decided to rebuild the cutter as a sailing yacht so the boat was towed to Puck
Puck, Poland
Puck is a town in northwestern Poland with 11,350 inhabitants. It is in Gdańsk Pomerania on the south coast of the Baltic Sea . Previously in the Gdańsk Voivodeship , Puck has been the capital of Puck County in the Pomeranian Voivodeship since 1999.-History:The settlement became a marketplace...

, where it was put out of the water and moved to the fishing harbor. In 1986 the hull and the used-out motor were dismantled. From the original vessel only the backbone, ribs and planks from underwater part were left. After that the hull was rebuilt in a slightly changed shape. The boards were made two planks higher along the side of the hull and four planks higher at the stern. Under the wooden backbone (keel) a six meter long, a I-shaped steel ballast beam was fixed. In 1990 the newly rebuilt hull was transported to Jastarnia
Jastarnia
Jastarnia is a small town in Puck County, Pomeranian Voivodship, northern Poland. It is located on the Hel Peninsula on the Baltic Sea. Popular Polish seaside resort and small fishing port....

 were the reconstruction of the yacht was meant to be finished. Unfortunately the construction company did not fulfill the contract. The hull was this time transported to Gdynia and placed on the embankment of Yacht Club “Stal” from which the shipowner was a member. The last stage of the reconstruction lasted until October 1994. The interior was finished by boat builder Leszek Fryzkowski supported by the ship owner Grzegorz Woźniak.

The sailing plan has been designed by Jan Młynarczyk and consists of two glued spruce masts – 19,5 m main mast with wishbone boom and 17,5 bezan mast, and five sails with total area of 160 m2 . The masts were made by the boat builder Franciszek Lewiński. Under the deck there are a technical forecastle
Forecastle
Forecastle refers to the upper deck of a sailing ship forward of the foremast, or the forward part of a ship with the sailors' living quarters...

 (with chain locker, diesel and storage), three berths for 3 persons, heads, a shower/wet gear room, a quite a big saloon with, a galley, a navigation cabin, an engine room and 3 berths for the crew. The yacht is equipped 110 hp Delfin motor built in 1978.

The nine-year effort resulted in a two-masted, classical yacht, which was named “Norda” (the word for the onerous, north winds in the local Kaszubian language). The length of the ketch including bowsprit was then 19,5 m. The vessels gained his first certificate still as Zag-9.

On March 3rd 1987 the newly rebuild yacht got its name Norda.

In 1995, Grzegorz Wozniak became the sole owner of the yacht Norda., and in 2002 he changed the registration to motorsailer (as this had less strict regulations for the crew compared to a sailing vessel.

The safety card of 2004, mentions only one owner: Grzegorz Woźniak, and another home harbour: Gdynia
Gdynia
Gdynia is a city in the Pomeranian Voivodeship of Poland and an important seaport of Gdańsk Bay on the south coast of the Baltic Sea.Located in Kashubia in Eastern Pomerania, Gdynia is part of a conurbation with the spa town of Sopot, the city of Gdańsk and suburban communities, which together...

.

Today and Future

Norda was sold on December 31st 2004 to Philippe De Brouwer. The current owner – Philippe De Brouwer - continues to restore Norda with original pieces: equipped both the mast-foots with pinrails, added some antique details to the interior, and even installed central heating and a woodstove.

Smaller changes and repairs also resulted in a longer bowsprit. The LOA is now 20.5m, and Norda is again sailing the Baltic Sea, visiting many of the places where it sailed about 80 years ago and that it did not visit ever since.

Construction

Norda is a wooden sailing cutter built in Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

 in 1928. It's a construction with double ribs, and with 2 inch molded wooden planks on the outside. The complete hull structure, the underwater planking as well as part of the deck constructions are still original. Only a steel keel is added under the wooden keel, to provide more counterweight in order to add higher masts and more sail. It's sail plan is wishbone ketch.
  • construction year: 1928
  • shipwarf: Anderson, Frederikssunde (Denmark
    Denmark
    Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

    )
  • GT
    GT
    -Science, technology, engineering, measurement:* Gas turbine, a rotary engine that extracts energy from a flow of combustion gas* Geometry & Topology, a mathematical journal* Giant trevally, a species of fish from the Carangidae family...

    : 46,40 ton
  • NT
    NT
    - Places and geographical terms :* Northern Territory, Australia* Northwest Territories, Canada* New Territories, an area of land in Hong Kong* Saudi-Iraqi neutral zone, obsolete ISO 3166 code* Netherlands Antilles, FIPS PUB 10-4 territory code...

    : 13.92 ton
  • LOA: 19,49 m
  • width: 5,43 m
  • minimal freeboard
    Freeboard (nautical)
    In sailing and boating, freeboardmeans the distance from the waterline to the upper deck level, measured at the lowest point of sheer where water can enter the boat or ship...

    0,70m
  • draught
    Draft (hull)
    The draft of a ship's hull is the vertical distance between the waterline and the bottom of the hull , with the thickness of the hull included; in the case of not being included the draft outline would be obtained...

    : 2,85m
  • motor
    Internal combustion engine
    The internal combustion engine is an engine in which the combustion of a fuel occurs with an oxidizer in a combustion chamber. In an internal combustion engine, the expansion of the high-temperature and high -pressure gases produced by combustion apply direct force to some component of the engine...

    : PZM Puck (Delfin), UE 680/193, 121 kW, at 2200tpm, 6 cylinders, construction year 1979
  • sail area: 170 m2
  • crew: 2 to 30
  • maximal number of passengers on deck: 40
  • number of berths: 2+3+3+4+1 = 13
  • number of masts: 2
  • number of sails: 5
  • comfort: 2 heads, 1 shower, 1 gas-cooker with 4 burners, central heating and woodstove, hot and cold water, …

Art

  • Norda inspired the famous artist Henri Seroka
    Henri Seroka
    Henri Seroka is a Belgian singer and composer. Although he began his career as a singer, he is most known today for his compositions, especially film music, and for composing Belgium's official song for the 1984 Olympic Games.-Biography:...

     to compose a CD of relaxing music
  • Wieslaw Wilk painted Norda (painting entitled Norda)
  • Norda was the location of two editions of the TV serial Święta wojna, with main artist Krzysztof Hanke (see http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krzysztof_Hanke).

More information

  • official website: http://www.norda.net.pl
  • tall ship's fan: http://www.tallship-fan.de/index_e.htm
  • The daily Dziennik Baltycki, December 9, 1994 has also a good description of the history of Norda.

other mentionings on the web

  • in the Zlot Old Timerow: http://www.zlotoldtimerow.pl/pages/_MKK3111.htm
  • on the website of the daily Gazeta: http://www.sport.pl/sport/1,78990,5657507,Norda_swietowala_w_Gdansku.html
  • in blogs:
    • http://kulinski.gdanskmarinecenter.com/art.php?id=826&fload=1
    • http://facetmorski.bloog.pl/id,2622250,index.html#form
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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