Vancouver is in for a rare treat when the Russian tall ship, the Krusenstern, is expected to arrive in the city, carrying the flag and delegates of the Sochi 2014 Winter Games organizing committee. The ship is expected to arrive at Vancouver’s Burrard Drydock on February 10th.

The ship will be open for public tours a few days a week and they are hoping to obtain a permit to offer short cruises to the public for a fee.

The ship’s intent is to promote the next Winter Games in Sochi, Russia in 2014. The Russians will be using the Telus World of Science, in False Creek, as their cultural house during the upcoming Games.

The Kruzenstern is a four-masted Russian barque and tall ship, built in 1926 in Germany. She was given to the USSR in 1946 as war reparation and renamed after the early 19th century Baltic German explorer in Russian service, Adam Johann Krusenstern.

If you have the opportunity to check out the ship while she is moored in Vancouver, I would highly recommend it. She is one of the tallest sailing ships in the world with a height of over 51 meters, requiring the captain to bring her into the inner harbour at low tide, in order to clear the Lions Gate Bridge with a 10 meter clearance.