Challenging the blockade of Gaza: message from a Canadian on board the Estelle

It is a great honour to be able to accompany the Swedish sailing ship Estelle for a few days, from Barcelona to Ajaccio (Corsica), on its way towards Gaza to challenge the illegal and inhuman blockade which has lasted now for more than five years.

The Estelle in a 90 year-old three-masted schooner purchased from a Finnish fair-trade organization by Ship to Gaza Sweden in April and renovated for this sea voyage. She began a Swedish coastal tour in June, with solidarity and information events in communities to raise awareness about the blockade in Gaza.

From Sweden she traveled to ports in Norway, France, Spain and will stop in Corsica and two Italian ports before continuing towards Gaza. The educational value from the hundreds of people who visited the ship in different harbours has made thousands of connections with the Estelle and her mission of solidarity. The beauty of a tall ship coupled with the pace of sail power (which the skipper and crew prefer to motors wherever possible) has brought this voyage towards Gaza into the hearts of communities as never before.

The Estelle is unique in that she has been both a commercially licensed cargo vessel and a sail training ship for some years. There are no passengers on a training vessel: everyone who is not part of the crew is a “trainee” and we all do a watch (two shifts of four hours each day), where each person contributes according to their ability.

While I am at the beginning of my learning curve when it comes to knots, rigging, steering or charting a course, I can mop a floor and wash dishes as well as the next trainee (which on our watch includes a Swedish MP who is Chair of his party’s parliamentary caucus). There are also several professional mariners who are donating their time: the ship and all aboard are in good hands.

The Estelle carries a varied cargo: from school supplies donated by school-kids to cement to aid the reconstruction of Gaza. But as always the most precious cargo on these trips is human solidarity: the Palestinians of Gaza need that much more than they need material aid. more

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