The Swedish Tall Ship SV GUNILLA was greeted by Plymouth mist and rain this morning, and now berthed near Mount Batten.
The 3 masted barque sailing ship has students from Swedish Öckerö Gymnasieskolan, a secondary school in the Gothenborg region, on board. Up to 38 students can travel on the ship and they sail for two months at a time.
The Gunilla was a former cargo vessel built in 1940, and with the exception of a short time in the 1950s, when the ship acted as a ferryboat, transporting both people and cars to Öland, she sailed with cargo until the ’90s. and re-built as a sailing vessel in 1997 for training young people.
The ship was launched in 1940 as a long-haul cargo ship and was converted to a sail training ship in 1997. During the school’s summer vacation the 162-foot ship takes part in Tall Ships Races and other maritime events.
The ship has a total sail area of 1,000 square metres and carries a professional crew of 11 and 44 trainees/students.
Life onboard Gunilla offers a unique combination of theory and practice for the trainees/students who are from the Öckerö Seglande Gymnasieskola, an upper secondary school for students ages 16-19 and a municipal school, financed by the Swedish state.
