The Cuauhtémoc Sailboat Training Ship of the Secretary of the Navy of Mexico (Semar) docked yesterday, at ten o’clock in the morning, in the Port of Santa Cruz de Tenerife. And it did so under the watchful eye of the media, representatives of the Embassy of Mexico in Spain, the Honorary Consulate of Mexico in Tenerife, the Mexican community residing in the Canary Islands, chicharreros and also foreigners who visit the Island in cruise ships, who did not want to miss the arrival of this sailboat with almost 40 years of life and that stands out for educating the members of the Heroic Military Naval School of Mexico and for transmitting a message of peace and goodwill throughout the world. It anchors the waters of the capital for the ninth time in its history.
THE BOAT AND THE JOURNEY
The Cuauhtémoc ship, which has a total length of 90 meters and 23 sails, and which is known as Ambassador and Knight of the Seas, arrived at port to applause, waving a huge Mexican flag on its stern, with some of its officers and its 62 cadets climbed on the yards, and with live music from its mariachi on board, one of the best in that country, which brightened the morning of those present.
An appointment in which the captain of the ship of the General Diplomatic Staff Corps, René Cano Ávila, explained to the public that attended his arrival that “it is an honor for the crew to stop in Santa Cruz de Tenerife”. A stop that is part of its Expo Dubai 2020 Instruction cruise in which 249 people travel on board and of which 28 are women, 10 of them cadets. Almost 250 people have their own function inside the ship, they are distributed around its three masts and show a clear love for the sea and navigation. Right now there are five months at sea, on a journey that began on July 16, 2021 in Acapulco and is scheduled to end in Rio de Janeiro, where it will depart when it leaves the Island. Since its departure, the Cuauhtémoc Sailboat Training Ship has passed through the Panama Canal, Cozumel, Norfolk (United States), Cádiz, the island of Crete, the Suez Canal, Dubai, Malta, Barcelona and Valencia.
It will be almost seven months on the high seas, which are not easy to bear, because “the family is very much missed”. This is what the cadet Arancha Serrano told DIARIO DE AVISOS, in a short and pleasant walk through the ship’s facilities. A young woman of only 22 years old who claimed to love sailing and who explained that to dedicate herself to it it is necessary to have “passion, conviction and, in addition, a lot of discipline”. The bad moments, he indicated, are overcome because, “in the end, all the crew members help each other and clothe each other, and we manage to be like a second family.”
In his case, the most difficult thing during this trip has been spending 29 days without touching land. Something that happened, he said, during the journey from Crete, in Greece, to Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates.
If we ask ourselves what is the goal of this cadet when she finishes her training, she says: “I will graduate, I will have a year as a midshipman, and then I will have a promotion exam to be a lieutenant of lieutenant. When I finish, I will be assigned a ship where I will be able to have more responsibilities”, explained the visibly excited young woman.
DISTINCTIONS AND RECOGNITION
The Cuauhtémoc ship has received numerous awards and, specifically, eight honorary recognitions for participating in important festivities and maritime events, which are represented with a star on the starboard and port bulkheads, in the waist area. And it is that this school ship draws attention, according to the Mexican ambassador in Tenerife, Óscar Esparza Vargas, for traveling the world, sailing the oceans and seas, and carrying a message of peace and goodwill from the Mexican Navy and of the Mexican people. “I give you the warmest welcome to the island of Tenerife. It is a privilege and a great honor for me to receive you after sailing for more than four months. It is a trip of first times; the first time that the sailboat travels to Dubai, that it sails through the Persian Gulf, that it crosses the Suez Canal from south to north, that diplomatic personnel from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs travel on board, and that a great mariachi also does so. That is why I am very excited. This ship has a unique and very Mexican personality that can be seen in each of its corners,” read the diplomat in his speech, in which he also invited the cadets who are in the process of training to continue being “exemplary Mexicans in all its activities” and to “proudly continue flying the flag of Mexico in all the ports of the world”.
VISITS
The ship will remain moored at the Ribera dock in the Dársena de Los Llanos, in front of the Cabildo de Tenerife, until Thursday, January 19. It can be visited, complying with all the protocols to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus, from 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Without a doubt, this is an opportunity to enjoy, inside and out, this ship that works to spread values such as honor, duty, loyalty and patriotism. And that, over almost four decades, he has visited 212 ports in 64 different countries, has spent almost 6,000 days on the high seas, has sailed nearly 800,000 nautical miles, which is equivalent to 35 times around the world, and that he has trained more than 30 generations of captains, officers, cadets and class personnel and sailors.
