16 minute read
tall ships are coming
The ingenious mind of modern man has created many wondrous things. Among them, towering glass-walled skyscrapers, rocket ships that carry men to the moon and artfully designed bridges that cross mile-wide seaways with a single span. To our way of thinking, though, no man-made creation is more majestic and awe-inspiring than a square-rigged sailing ship bounding along with great clouds of billowing sails straining against a fresh breeze.
If you were cut from the same cloth as
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we were, the mere sight of a 'tall ship' will make your heart beat a little faster and your face form into a broad smile, while your imagination is transported back to a bygone era when sailing ships ruled the seas as the unchallenged masters of international commerce, exploration and human migration.
This month, you'll have a rare opportunity to get your fill of square-riggers, schooners and a variety of other traditionally rigged sailing vessels as San Francisco hosts the Festival of Sail, July 23-28. The star of this year's fleet will be the U.S. Coast Guard's flagship, Eagle, a 295-ft barque that carries more than 21,000 square feet of sail.
We plan to be out on the Bay cheering her on, Wednesday, July 23, as she leads an eye-popping procession of sailing craft along the Cityfront during the Parade of Sail, the inaugural activity of this five-day celebration. We suggest you mark your calendar and join the welcoming party.
The Eagle and the rest of the fleet will be available for public tours at dockside Thursday through Sunday, in addition to public sails, mock sea battles and a wide variety of maritime exhibitions. Many participating vessels are actively involved in sail training for youth and/or adults. which requires untold hours of preparation and planning, plus a small army of volunteers. The good news this year is that the nonprofit San Francisco Maritime National Park Association has taken the reins of leadership, and has enlisted substantial support from a broad coalition of corporate sponsors, establishing a foundation that will hopefully be built upon for future events. With the help of ASTA (the American Sail Training Association), tall ship fests are staged along the Left Coast every three years.
This year's ship tours and other festivities will be staged at three waterside 'vil-
Organizing such events has always been a monumental challenge LANCE EKHART America's tall ship, 'Eagle'. lages', each with a specific theme. The Marine Educational Village at Aquatic Park and the Hyde Street Pier will feature a wide range of hands-on learning activities for the whole family including sailboat rides, boatbuilding competitions and historical exhibits.
The International Village will be staged at Justin Herman Plaza and the Ferry Building, showcasing San Francisco's diverse cultural heritage through a variety of international exhibitions. As the name implies, the Green Village will focus on environmental education, through 200 eco-friendly exhibits and demonstrations. Adding to the festive mood, each venue will also have live music and other entertainment, plus food and drink concessions. And yes, there will be plenty of onsite restroom facilities. With that brief introduction, let's have a look at this year's fleet.
(See www.festivalofsail.org for complete event details.)
HMS Bounty — Apart from the Eagle, no ship in the fleet has a more colorful history than this finely-crafted replica
'HMS Bounty' will transport you back in time.
of Captain Bligh's notorious vessel. She was built in Nova Scotia, for the classic 1960 version of Mutiny on the Bounty — the one staring Marlon Brando as Fletcher Christian. After the filming was completed, she circled the globe to promote the film, and has starred in a variety of productions since, the latest being Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean II (2006). Bounty has the distinction of being one of the largest actively sailed wooden square riggers that is also a full-rigged ship.
Overall Length: 180'; Beam: 32'; Draft: 13'; Rig: Full-rigged ship; Sail Area: 10,000 sq. ft.; Mast Height: 115'; Hull: wood; Built: 1960 at Smith & Rhuland Shipyard, Lunenberg, Nova Scotia; Passengers: 49 (12 on passages).
Alma — A familiar sight on the Bay, Alma is the last remaining example of the hundreds of wooden-hulled scow schooners which brought hay, lumber, produce and other cargo from North Bay and Delta farms to San Francisco's thriving wharves during the 1800s.
Once neglected on a South Bay mudflat, she was purchased by the state in 1959, and the slow work of restoration began. In 1978 she was transferred to the National Park Service, and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1988. Today she is one of San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park’s most active historic vessels
Alma sails every season, and is a regular attraction at the annual Master there who were still using design and construction techniques that dated back to the 15th Century. After countless hours of shaping Brazilian hardwoods with adzes, axes, hand saws and chisels, Nina was launched in 1991 to begin her career as a globe-trotting maritime history museum.
In her first year, she was featured in Ridley Scott's Columbus epic 1492, and since then she has visited well over 400 ports. Don't miss your chance to see this
The privaterr 'Lynx' is sleek and fast. Mariners Regatta every spring.
Overall Length: 62'; Beam: 22'6"; Draft: 4'; Rig: gaff schooner; Sail Area: 2,684 ft; Mast Height: 76'; Hull: wood; Built: 1891 in San Francisco; Homeport: S.F.'s Hyde St. Pier.
Lynx — This splendid square tops'l schooner is a carefully crafted replica of an American privateer of the same name which was built in 1812. The original was one of the first ships to defend American freedom by evading the British naval fleet which was blockading American ports.
This vessel, however, specializes in doing a variety of youth sailing excursions, as well as corporate teambuilding and sail training.
Overall Length: 78'; Beam: 23'; Draft: 9'5"; Rig: square tops'l schooner; Sail Area: 5,000 sq. ft.; Hull: wood; Built: 2001, Rockport, Maine. Homeport: Newport Beach; Passengers: 40 on daysails, 6-8 overnight
Columbus would be proud on this 'Nina'. fascinating slice of maritime history.
Overall Length: 68'; Beam: 18'; Draft: 7'; Rig: 1400s caravel; Sail Area: 1,900 sq. ft.; Mast Height: 54'; Hull: wood; Built: 1991, Valenca, Brazil. Homeport: U.S. & Mexico; Passengers: 50 on daysails, 6 on passages
Nina — After doing much research, the goal of Nina's builders was to produce the first historically accurate replica of a 15th Century Caravel. They chose a Brazilian port town for her construction because they had discovered a group of master shipbuilders
Marine Education Village
Alma Nina Brigadoon Balclutha Eureka C.A. Thayer USS Pampanito SS Jeremiah O'Brien
International Sail Village
Lynx Californian Nehemiah Gas Light
July 23: Parade of Sail along the Cityfront. July 24-27: Ships will be available for tours from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Green Village Eagle Bounty Robt. C. Seamans Seaward HMCS Oriole
Our state's official tall ship, 'Californian'.
Californian — Built at San Diego's Spanish Landing, and launched in 1984, she is a finely crafted replica of an actual Gold Rush era schooner named C.W. Lawrence. The original was commissioned as a Revenue Marine Service Cutter — the Coast Guard's predecessor — and was the first such vessel stationed on the California coast. With that pedigree it's no wonder she was chosen to be the state's Official Tallship Ambassador.
The Californian stays busy throughout the year running programs for both youth and adults that combine basic sail training with the study of coastal ecology and American history.
Overall Length: 145'; Beam: 24’6"; Draft: 9’5"; Rig: Square topsail schooner; Sail Area: 7,000 sq. ft.; Rig Height: 101'; Hull: wood; Built: 1983 by Nautical Heritage Society, San Diego. Homeport: Long Beach; Passengers: 16 (overnight), co-ed, 4th grade through college.
HMCS Oriole (Canada) — This beautiful 102-ft ketch holds the unique distinction of being the oldest commissioned ship in the Canadian Navy — and the only yacht.
But she is not merely a museum piece. In addition to conducting active sail training programs for naval personnel, she is also a regular participant in local and offshore races like the Vic-Maui, the TransPac and the Swiftsure Classic. Based at Esquimalt, near Victoria, BC, she made an 18,000-mile voyage to Nova Scotia and back in 1984 for a tall ship
The Canadian Navy's 'Oriole'.
event.
Fourth in a line of private yachts built for a Toronto businessman, this Oriole was completed in 1921 by George Lawley and Sons of Boston.
Still true to her era, she uses no winches. Her spinnaker poles are 42 feet long and weight 125 lbs.
Overall Length: 102'; Beam: 19'; Draft: 10'; Rig: Marconi ketch; Sail Area: 15,700 sq. ft.; Mast Height: 105'; Hull: wood; Built: 1921,
AMERICA'S TALL SHIP — BARQUE EAGLE
Dubbed 'America's Tall Ship', the 295-ft barque Eagle is the federal government's sole tall ship ambassador to festivals around the world. As such, she has long been a symbol of America's noblest cultural traditions, and the co-ed contingent of U.S. Coast Guard Academy cadets who serve aboard her always do so with great pride. A stint on the Eagle, in fact, is undoubtedly one of the coolest 'duty stations' in all branches of our armed forces. This is one military vessel, by the way, which carries no armament.
Originally named Horst Wessel, she is one of five sisterships built in Germany for naval cadet sail training in the '30s. At the end of WWII, she was taken as a prize of war, then was sailed via 'the Columbus route' across the Atlantic to New London, CT — still today her home port — and was commissioned by the Coast Guard in 1946. During that crossing, she rode out a mid-ocean hurricane, then survived another one eight years later while en route to Bermuda.
She took the name Eagle from a long line of Coast Guard cutters that preceded her. The first was commissioned in 1792, shortly after the formation of the modern Coast Guard's forerunner, the Revenue Marine Service. When Eagle's 21,000 square feet of sail are straining against a stiff breeze, she is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful vessels ever to fly the stars and stripes. She's been known to hit 17 knots.
During Eagle's nearly continuous voyages, she serves as a seagoing classroom for roughly 175 cadets and their instructors from the Coast Guard Academy. If you think upkeep on your boat is costly, consider that Eagle's complex sail plan requires five miles of rigging! Over 200 lines must be coordinated during a major ship maneuver.
Built to take the abuses of any ocean, her steel hull is nearly a half inch thick. Atop her steel weather deck is a layer of three-inch-thick teak.
If you are a tall ship buff, you'll be interested to know that all four of Eagle's sisterships are still active today — 70 years after they were launched. They are Mircea of Romania, Sagres II of Portugal, Gorch Fock of Germany and Tovarich of Russia.
Among her many starring perfor-
'Gold Star' has sailed the Bay for decades.
George Lawley & Sons, Boston; Homeport: Esquimalt, B.C.; Passengers: 18
Gold Star — This sleek schooner has been sailing on San Francisco Bay since 1965, but her history began long before that. George Krenkel of Richmond spent 14 years building her before she was launched in 1960.
Two year's later she was purchased
mances, Eagle served as the flagship of the epic 1964 OpSail festival in New York, and did so again at OpSail '76 during the U.S. Bicentennial celebration. In that same tradition, her presence at Festival of Sail should be a point of pride for all Bay Area residents, and we would highly encourage you to check her out in person. We're sure this is one government expenditure you'll be glad your tax dollars are funding.
— latitude/andy
Overall Length: 295'; Beam: 40'; Draft: 17'; Rig: three-masted barque; Sail Area: 21,000 sq. ft.; Mast Height: 147’4"; Hull: Steel; Built: 1936 by Blohm & Voss, Hamburg, Germany. Homeport: New London, CT; Crew: 19 officers, 46 crew, 175 cadets and instructors. by her second owners who fitted her out comfortably for Bay and ocean sailing. Since then, she has logged over 35,000 miles of ocean voyaging, including trips to Mexico and Hawaii, plus five trips to Alaska. She's a regular at the Master Mariner's Races and at Tiburon's Wooden Boat Show
Overall Length: 60'; Beam: 14'2"; Draft: 7'6"'; Rig: Marconi schooner with gaff foremast; Hull: wood; Built: 1960, Richmond; Homeport: San Francisco.
Robert C. Seamans — Said to be the most sophisticated oceanographic research/sailing school vessel ever built in the U.S., this steel brigantine was built specifically for the Sea Education Association of Woods Hole, MA, for programs in North America and the Pacific. She was designed by renowned naval architect Laurent Giles, and built in Tacoma, WA.
The ship's amenities include a wet/ dry laboratory, a large library, classroom, and computer laboratory, which are used by student researchers on programs in the Northern and Tropical Pacific.
Overall Length: 134'; Beam: 24'5"; Draft: 12'3"; Rig: brigantine; Sail Area: 8,554 sq. ft.; Hull: steel; Built: 2001, Martinac Shipbuilding, Tacoma; Homeport: Woods Hole, MA.
Bay Lady — The largest USCG certified schooner on San Francisco Bay. Bay Lady was built in Boothbay, Maine, in 1989. She is patterned after the famous Maine Coastal Schooners that have plied the sailing trade on the Eastern seaboard for hundreds of years.
Overall Length: 90'; Beam: 22'; Draft: 6'; Rig: tops'l schooner; Sail Area: 2,460 sq. ft.; Hull: steel; Built: 1990, Washburn & Doughty, Maine; Homeport: Pier 40, S.F.; Passengers: 77.
Gas Light — Built in 1991 by master shipwright Billy Martinelli, this vessel is a replica of a scow schooner of the same name which plied the Bay and Delta in the late 1800s.
She is one of the Bay's busiest charter vessels, giving passengers an insightful look into the style and sailing ability of the Bay's distinctive, flat-bottomed cargo vessels.
Overall Length: 72'; Beam: 19.5'; Draft: 3'4"; Rig: scow schooner; Hull: steel; Built: Sausalito. Homeport: Sausalito; Passengers: 49.
Seaward — Since her arrival on the Bay several years ago, this 82-ft staysail schooner has done a wide range of char-
The 'Bay Lady' is licensed to carry 77 guests.
ter work and youth sail training, both on the Bay and offshore.
When winter approaches, she heads for the sunny latitudes of Mexico, where she offers a series of programs which combine education in traditional seamanship, study of the marine environment and fun in the sun. Seaward is owned and operated by the nonprofit Call of the Sea organization.
Overall Length: 82'; Beam: 17'6"; Draft: 8'4"; Rig: stays'l schooner; Hull: steel; Built: 1988, St. Augustine, Florida. Homeport: Sausalito; Passengers: 40 on daysails, 15 for overnights.
Nehemiah — Solidly built and tra-
SAILFEST TIPS & NOTES
(See www.festivalofsail.org for full details) Costs: Visiting the Villages is free, but a fee is charged to tour most vessels (which supports their costly upkeep). • Ship tours from 10 a.m.-6 p.m., Thu-Sun. • Touring the Eagle is free. • $10 for a wristband to see all ships in one Village (5-7 ships) on one day; $20 for an 'allVillage' wristband. • 'Timed Tickets' (for a specific time) will be given to wristband holders so they will not have to wait in line. (Brilliant idea!) • Wristbands may be prepaid online. • Seniors > 65, $2 discount; kids < 5 free.
Bay Sailing: Tickets can be purchased online for a ride aboard most vessels during the Parade of Sail, and aboard selected vessels for Mock Battle Sails, Daysails & Evening Sails.
Volunteer Opportunities: Volunteer staff are needed in a variety of positions ranging from ticket sales to helping with kids' programs to to ship logistics. Sign up online.
Private Group Events: A variety of other special activities can be arranged involving selected ships, including: • Exclusive after-hours entertainment and socializing. • Land receptions that include exclusive access to a tall ship. • Private catered picnics or parties in VIP areas of Villages.
ditionally rigged, Nehemiah is an ideal platform for hands-on training that she offers to Bay Area youth, particularly atrisk youth. In addition, she offers custom charters to the general public.
This classic wooden ketch holds the distinction of being the only S.F. Bay charter vessel that has circled the globe — and she's done it twice.
Overall Length: 57'; Beam: 14'3"; Draft: 6.5'; Rig: ketch; Hull: wood; Built: 1971, Carpenteria, CA; Homeport: Richmond, CA; Passengers: 32.
In addition to these vessels, don't miss the stationary watercraft of all types berthed at the Hyde Street Pier (S.F. Maritime Park), such as Balclutha. The ultimate symbol of the great Age of Sail, this three-masted, steel-hulled square rigger, which was launched in 1886, carried cargo all over the world — and those voyages took her around Cape Horn a remarkable 17 times!
To our way of thinking, inviting nonsailing friends to join you at the Festival of Sail is an ideal way to introduce them
At the highly theatrical Pirate Academy, the young, and young at heart, will learn "the ways of those mischievous water rogues."
to the magic of sailing. Formerly reluctant 'lubbers may get so psyched up, in fact, that they'll beg you to take them out for a day of bashing around the Central Bay on your own boat.
Kids, too, will love checking out the fleet up close. Surveying the tall rigs and chatting with the crews may inspire them to sign up for a sail training cruise someday. That's one of the best ways we know of for teens to build character and self-confidence, and gain a sense of purpose.
On the East Coast, tall ship festivals have a long and proud tradition. Organizers are able to recruit impressive numbers of European ships, as they can 'cross the pond' with relative ease due to prevailing winds and currents.
We don't have it so easy here — it's a long uphill slog from Panama and an even harder trip across the North Pacific from Russia or Japan. Huge 'school ships' from those countries have visited the Bay before and they'll do so again in the future if they know they'll receive a warm reception.
So we encourage you to lend your full support to this year's Festival, and hopefully the momentum will continue to build so that the Bay can host an even bigger and better sailfest three years from now.
See you on the docks! — latitude/andy
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