Princess Leonor's Military Studies


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I wonder how comfortable the quarters must be on such a long voyage, though.
A minimal space, with very narrow triple bunk beds and only a small space under the beds to store personal belongings and a locker for uniforms.




King Felipe and Queen Letizia arrived in Cadiz this evening, and may have joined the Princess at the farewell dinner... it is a private event and no images have been released at this time. According to several journalists, Jesús Ortiz and his wife arrived in Cádiz on Thursday by train, so they will be among the public saying goodbye to Leonor.

Schedule for tomorrow:
09:30 Mass at the Convent of Santo Domingo
10:15 Procession of the "Galeona"
12:00 Departure of the training ship

According to some reports, the King and Queen will board another of the Navy ships to accompany Elcano out of the port.
 
In the video you can see that they were not attached with a rope at the top of the harness, and that they used the harness anchors only when they reached the top.

When the boat is at sea they do use ropes in their harnesses.


When the then Prince Felipe sailed on the ship, harnesses did not exist.

In this video from HOLA we can see in detail what lula described above, there is no safety but when the recruits climb the over the top.
Safety is important but they cannot secure anything. The recruits are not wearing helmets etc ... I think its fine to do without a rope when the ship is anchored.
When I grew up nobody even thought of wearing a helmet when riding a bike, today I see children dressed like the michelin man when riding a wooden scooter. Life has its risks, there has to be a middle ground.
 
Mass at the Church of Santo Domingo






Procession of the "Galeona" and boarding the Juan Sebastian Elcano



LIVE



King Felipe and Queen Letizia arrive on the ship





 
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“With sadness and with hope, it will be very good for her,” King Felipe told the media after saying goodbye to his daughter. Meanwhile, Queen Letizia commented that “it will be many months without seeing her.”


Photos




 
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In addition to the military experience and discipline it teaches, what a wonderful opportunity for Leonor and her peer recruits to meet others from different areas of Spain. And the experience - with six bunks in a tiny space - looks like it will provide them all with ample opportunities to learn how to get along with all sorts of people.
She has grown up so much - you can tell how proud her parents are of her! It wasn’t so very long ago when she was holding her dad’s hand:wave:
 
They are unlikely to use a safety line while climbing the ratlines, unless the weather is truly terrible and in that case I assume the ship has an engine, otherwise it would take forever to climb up to the yardarms.
However they will use safety lines when working with the sails on the yardarms.
How do I know? Because most European countries with a seafaring tradition has a tall ship or two like this to train sea-officers.

It's not 1825, where the sailors and midshipmen had to climb and work in the masts in all weather.

In fact Danish sailors during the summer, didn't go down on deck unless they had to, like wash-day or Sunday-prayers. They slept in their hammocks tied to the yardarms and when they had to - ahem - relieve themselves, they walked to the lee end of the yardarm and did that. A bucket of water and a cloth would clean things... They of course also ate up there.
Yet, people rarely fell down.

Leonor will be fine. She will push boundaries by climbing the ratlines and gain more self-confidence and of course earn respect from her peers.
 
So what does one say to a crew shipping out, if not bon voyage?
 
So what does one say to a crew shipping out, if not bon voyage?
"Good wind and good sea"

It was a pity that there was fog and we were unable to properly see the farewell of all the ships accompanying Elcano.


This was the final farewell... Queen Letizia was very moved

 
They are unlikely to use a safety line while climbing the ratlines, unless the weather is truly terrible and in that case I assume the ship has an engine, otherwise it would take forever to climb up to the yardarms.
However they will use safety lines when working with the sails on the yardarms.
How do I know? Because most European countries with a seafaring tradition has a tall ship or two like this to train sea-officers.

It's not 1825, where the sailors and midshipmen had to climb and work in the masts in all weather.

In fact Danish sailors during the summer, didn't go down on deck unless they had to, like wash-day or Sunday-prayers. They slept in their hammocks tied to the yardarms and when they had to - ahem - relieve themselves, they walked to the lee end of the yardarm and did that. A bucket of water and a cloth would clean things... They of course also ate up there.
Yet, people rarely fell down.

Leonor will be fine. She will push boundaries by climbing the ratlines and gain more self-confidence and of course earn respect from her peers.
"Ratlines" I can see why this is the term for those ropes climbed by two legged and four legged crew members.
 
So they'll be away for six months? I would absolutely hate spending six months at sea, sleeping in a bunk in a cramped room :) , but I hope Leonor enjoys it!
Think of the days when European sailors circumnavigated the globe in tiny sailing ships with no modern navigation equipment or no other modern amenities. Ferdinand Magellan, who was actually Portuguese (Fernão de Magalhães), but was under the service of Spain, set out in a 3-year expedition and actually died before completing his journey. The expedition was concluded under the command of Juan Sebastián Elcano, after whom Leonor's ship is named, if I am not mistaken.
 
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So they'll be away for six months? I would absolutely hate spending six months at sea, sleeping in a bunk in a cramped room :) , but I hope Leonor enjoys it!
The others will be away for 6 months. The ship is to return to Spain in July (3-7 July: Gijón; 9-12 July: Ferrol; and disembarkment on July 14 in Marín).

Leonor will be away for 5 months. She will return to Spain a few weeks earlier (after their stint in New York which ends June 10) and train on another ship for a maximum of 3 weeks before joining them again in Gijón for the final week. So, I guess the main difference is that she is not crossing the Atlantic Ocean on the ship but will fly back instead.
 
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Awww...heartwarming moments of the family.

I suppose there will be lots of face-timing for the next few months and oh how sweet the reunion will be come May/June.
The King and Queen looked immensely proud (as they should be)! This is a life changing and thrilling experience for Leonor. I hope she develops and maintains friendships that will last a lifetime.
 
Awww...heartwarming moments of the family.

I suppose there will be lots of face-timing for the next few months and oh how sweet the reunion will be come May/June.
The King and Queen looked immensely proud (as they should be)! This is a life changing and thrilling experience for Leonor. I hope she develops and maintains friendships that will last a lifetime.
At first it must have been a little weird to be the 'new girl on the block' in a group that already was together for 2 years. However, she's been spending a few months with them now, so I hope (and it seems) she is well integrated by now - just as she was in her previous group in her first training year in the army.
 
Spanish Defence Minister was booed when she entered in the ship!
 
How does it work on the ship, will men and women have separate quarters? There are 76 recruits, only 9 women.
In the US Navy they would indeed have separate sleeping quarters and I assume that will be the same in the Spanish Navy, so I expect there will be two quarters assigned for the female 'guardiamarinas'.

There will be similar arrangements for the female staff (as there are 176 staff members on the ship, I assume that will include female staff as well) - although in their case their rank also plays into who gets which quarter.
 
Leonor will have security on board too and her fellow classmates will all be heavily vetted/have a non disclosure agreement, probably part of the military code anyway.
 
Leonor will have security on board too and her fellow classmates will all be heavily vetted/have a non disclosure agreement, probably part of the military code anyway.
The men's and women's rooms are separate.
According to several journalists, Leonor will not have security while the ship is at sea, but security will be deployed upon arrival at port. The Royal House, the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, via the embassy of each country, will have to organize a team of personnel and security to accompany her at each stop.
 
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