Will we Bite the Bullet and Buy the Rusich?

According to a report in the Mercury (here) the replica Viking ship Rusich is on the market and the mooted price is $140,000.

What is the value of a Russian-built replica wooden Viking ship that has sailed around the World on a 2 year adventure?

On the face of it, $140,000 seems like a reasonable tag, should the funds be found.

Unless the ship has already gained a new owner, we wonder if a foundation could be formed to raise the funds to buy the Rusich.

Anyone keen on this approach could make a pledge and should the sum promised match the asking price, the Rusich will find a new home, life and future in Tasmania.

Securing the ship could be the first step in a working project, which would need to look toward a good home for the ship.

As the Rusich is already an historic vessel in more ways than one, the tourist potential of this replica Viking ship would be a great boon to the Tasmanian economy.

It would be great if this ship could sail upon the river on a regular basis and in this role, it could be a great youth activity.

Tasmania already has a powerful connection with the Viking world, with Tasmania’s own Princess Mary of Denmark, where they build Viking boats and ships of excellent quality at the Roskilde Viking Ship Museum ~

http://www.vikingeskibsmuseet.dk/en/

Three of their boats and a team of Viking boat builders were at the Australian Wooden Boat Festival in 2005.

Kim attended a workshop at the Franklin Wooden Boat Centre, where the Danes demonstrated their skills and the replica Viking tools that they use.

If a foundation in some form secures the title of the Rusich, it will need a home, which could become a centre for Viking boat-building skills and other aspects of Norse culture.

Denizens of and visitors to Tasmania may wish to inspect the Rusich, find out about the adventure that brought this ship around the World and discover the life of the Vikings.

If such a centre existed with the Rusich, it would serve a wonderful role as a destination for schools and if Viking boats and other Nordic artifacts are being built there, it will be a lively experience.

Having founded a Viking Society in Tasmania in 1975 and undertaken many visits to schools with the Viking theme over the years, Kim knows how exciting the children can find the encounter.

A real dragon ship and one that can be sailed on, would be an over the rainbow experience and introduction to raw history that can never be found in books or on blackboards.

Should the Rusich find a new home in the south, Hobart would not be alone in Australia to host a Viking ship.

In 2008 the Pyrmont Heritage Boating Club purchased the 23 metre long Viking ship replica, the Jorgen Jorgenson, built in Perth in 1985 ~

http://www.pyrmontheritageboatingclub.org/

Should the fire of interest burn in the hearts of enough people to buy the Rusich, there is a place we can meet to drive the plan and invite anyone from anywhere in the world to participate.

We have started a display of the Rusich in the virtual world, at our island called Sprite in InWorldz:

We also have a project at Nautilus in Second Life, where we have a couple of virtual Viking ships in a Nordic exhibition.

Accessing the virtual world is like visiting a website and then using an avatar, to go walkabout.

We could hold a meeting in the virtual world and build virtual displays of all that may happen in the real world, even a full-size virtual model of the Rusich, which could be sailed on the virtual ocean.

The home that we would like for the Rusich, could be built as a full size model in the virtual world.

The virtual world can offer a whole other dimension to the potential of the Rusich project, should it proceed, by being able to create a virtual space where visitors from anywhere in the world can discover not just the Nordic theme, but also aspects of Tasmania.

A project already in train is the building of a model of the Ross Bridge, which will hopefully include 3 dimensional images of all the carvings, full-size, on the virtual bridge.

This will enable a study of the unique art of Daniel Herbert, which is now very difficult to do from the waters of the Macquarie River.

If we wish, we could build a full-size working model of the Bellerive Fort, with working guns, to defend against a virtual Russian invasion.

In a similar way, aspects of Viking art, craft and ship-building can be displayed in the virtual world as well as in real life, creating a global asset and a boon for Tasmania.

Should the Rusich project be a humble endeavour in real life, in the virtual world there could be a whole Viking village to discover and a fleet of replica Viking boats and ships.

Educational games can be developed, where the student has free-roving ability to search for clues and solve problems.

Many schools and universities around the world are now using the virtual world as a classroom, as seen in action at Coffs Harbour Public School ~

http://coffsharbourpublicschool.edublogs.org/virtual-worlds/

Follow Mrs Booth’s Virtual Learning Journey with Southern Cross University, a video clip on this website, to some of the potential of this model making and communication medium.

One virtual world system that is used by schools is called Sim-on-a-Stick, which is a standalone system within the computer.

Sim-on-a-Stick was originally developed by a Tasmanian, Roger Stack at the Tasmanian Polytechnic.

Subsequent development by a Canadian educator, who works under the avatar name Ener Hax, has resulted in a very user-friendly system that anyone can download and install on their computer.

A Viking world, Ross Bridge or Bellerive Fort once designed and built, could be made available in a Sim-on-a-Stick for schools and libraries to use on standalone computers without the need to connect to a public virtual world.

Our main project in the virtual world is the development of a virtual space program, including the building of a torus space station, where participants can experience an environment ~ as if in space.

This initiative attracted the Kepler Space Institute, who have been working on their online classes for the virtual world.

Like good Vikings, we challenge the frontier and who knows where the adventure will go.

Anyone interested can visit and participate in our virtual world projects.

With a little imagination, we can build some fantastic projects and create amazing environments.

If we get our heads together and buy the Rusich, one way to generate the additional funding to create a home for the vessel can be through crowd funding.

Oculus raised $2.4 million in this way to develop their rift headset for gaming.

Like Oculus, a really cool film will be required to sell the vision ~

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1523379957/oculus-rift-step-into-the-game

Such a film could be the first of many, made for fun and enterprise.

When the next Australian Wooden Boat Festival comes around, how many Viking boats might there be on the river to fire the imaginations of locals and visitors?

The largest replica Viking ship built to date, the Dragon Harald Fairhair, was launched in Norway last year ~ a very impressive vessel ~

Of more interest for Tasmania may be the three smaller Viking boats that they built and sailed to test the design, in preparation for construction ~

Being the first State to be fully rigged for the National Broadband Network, Tasmania will be in an excellent position to take the lead with new technologies, like the virtual worlds, connecting people globally for action in real life locally, as could happen now with the Rusich.

We will kick off this bid with a pledge of $100 and would be delighted to hear from other folk who also rise to the challenge wherever in the World you may be.