Crew of Simon Bolivar strives to reach St. Petersburg

Crew of Venezuelan training ship Simon Bolivar is intent on overcoming ice obstacle on the way to St. Petersburg, said Venezuelan military attaché in Russia RADM Nestor Colina during the interview to Central Navy Portal at brief press conference on Apr 18, 2011. 

The press conference was held in St. Petersburg Cultural Center with participation of Venezuelan ambassador to Russia Hugo Jose Garcia Hernandez and military attaché Nestor Colina. Main subject was Venezuela's Culture Days in Russia associated with 200th anniversary of Venezuelan declaration of independence. Call of training sailer Simon Bolivar at St. Petersburg was to become an essential element of the festivities' program. According to initial plans, the Venezuelan sailer was supposed to arrive in St. Petersburg as early as Tuesday morning, but severe ice situation in the Gulf of Finland caused unpredictable delay. When the press conference was held, exact date of the sailer's arrival was still uncertain. 

According to the Venezuelan attaché, despite extreme ice conditions the crew is intent on overcoming all obstacles to visit St. Petersburg. The main purpose of the visit is to deliver regards from president Chavez to St. Petersburg people and Russians in general. The embassy is in permanent contact with the ship. According to Rear Admiral N. Colina, the crew's morale (including that of servicewomen) is high; all sailors meet troubles halfway and are sure that bad weather could not stop them. As a matter of fact, Russian party did warn the Venezuelan crew about severe meteorological environment. 

According to recent information from St. Petersburg seaport administration, at noon Apr 20 decreased wind speed in the gulf's western part and ice decompression made possible to continue the sailer's escort. To help Simon Bolivar which has no ice stiffening, the port administration and Inflot ship's agency service have planned a special icebreaking escort operation provided by two icebreakers Kapitan Sorokin and Karu, and two tugs – Neptun and Evgeny Kocheshkov. 

Simon Bolivar has already passed ice edge and started to move towards the entrance buoy. If no problems appear (note that the most difficult part of ice-traffic is ahead), Simon Bolivar would moor at the Lt. Schmidt Embankment Thursday morning.