A replica of a Viking longship from the Middle Ages stopped in South Haven this week. The Draken, or "Dragon," is participating in the North American Tall Ships Festival.
Pelayo Secades is a professional sailor from Spain who helped sail the ship from Norway across the North Atlantic. He says that experience affected all 34 people on board.
"The crew that started on the North Atlantic is not the same crew that finished the North Atlantic. They were the same people but after this experience, of course, you learn the ship. You learn how to behave. And you're perhaps hardened like steel in a forge."
Secades says the Draken had to dodge icebergs and storms getting to North America. But he says sailing on the Great Lakes has also been challenging.
Secades says he and other crew members hope their cruise on the Great Lakes won't be cut short. The tiny vessel ran into trouble paying required piloting fees at some Great Lakes ports. But Secades says a "crowdfunding" campaign online has kept them going, so far.
"Our voyage forward all very much depends on the situation with our pilotage and our crowdfunding, that is going very well, actually. Thanks to that we are here. It's amazing to see people come forward like that, when we we thought we had to turn around and go back out of the Lakes, we're making it this far."
The "Draken" left South Haven Tuesday night for Chicago, where it will be on display at Navy Pier during the tall ships festival. Secades says the crew hopes to stop in Green Bay, Wisconsin, after that. The Viking ship will end its voyage at Mystic Seaport in Connecticut later this year.
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