The Baltic is a schooner. For those who aren’t nautically trained: on a schooner, the rear mast (the mainmast) is taller than the front mast (the foremast). Schooners are very popular with those who mainly want to sail fast, though of course the hull shape, the amount of sail, and the wind also play a role.
The Baltic’s three sister ships built in the Netherlands are all ketch-rigged. On a ketch, the rear mast (the mizzenmast) is shorter than the front mast (the mainmast). A ketch sails more conservatively. The ship is a bit slower to get moving, but you have a bit more balance.
That schooner rigging made us hesitate for a moment about whether we should buy the Baltic, because we’re both big fans of ketches. We don’t just find them more beautiful; they also better suit the areas where we’ll be taking the ship later on.
But, well, we bought the ship, the masts were set aside, and Olivier van Meer drew them up exactly so that SRF can remake them in steel. All settled.
Or so it seemed.
But the idea of a ketch occasionally resurfaced. Especially when we saw a photo of its sister ship, the Vesta. “A ketch is so nice,” we thought. Shouldn’t we…
We made a print of the drawings, brushed the masts away, and drew a ketch rig on it ourselves. “That’s the one,” Marijn said. And so it is. Just like the Vesta, the Holland, and the Zeearend, the Baltic will soon be a ketch too.
