SHIPNOTES, SEAPORT & MUSEUM NEWS Only two months remain before New York City is once again set upon by a sailing force of over 200 sailing ships and a landing force of thousands of cadets and sailors. Is New York ready as it was in 1986, 1976 and for the first time in 1964, to entertain the largest gathering of international tall ships ever? In a recessionary period, OpSail officials have found it difficult to raise the millions of dollars necessary to stage the event. Given this problem, the question arises: Why are events like these important and necessary? Peter Stanford, president of the National Maritime Historical Society, makes this comment: "Obviously NMHS has an axe to grind in the success of OpSail, but so does the whole marine community. This is the one day every so many years, between OpSail events, that the nation's eyes genuinely tum to the sea and Americans contemplate the history it has wrought and the culture it supports." As a spectator event it is unsurpassable. It is simply the biggest assembly of human beings for one day for a single purpose in human history. New York City is a natural theatre. In 1986 an estimated sixteen million people watched the parade up New York Harbor, and some 32,000 spectator craft filled the harbor. The numbers might seem fantastical if the Coast Guard itself hadn't confirmed them with aerial photography, counting each vessel and estimating the onshore crowds by actually counting the number of heads in selected areas and extrapolating. But despite its obvious popularity, sponsorship for the event has lagged behind expectations. Sea History met with OpSail treasurer George L. Peirce to discuss the problems OpSail faces in not meeting its original multi-million dollar budget. But we were reassured to learn that such is the importance of the event in the eyes of its supporters that the innumerable in-kind donations of services and goods received will allow the program to be carried off in typical style. Of course, donations are needed and can be sent to Operation Sail, 2 World Trade Center, Suite 2164, New York NY 10048. But getting beyond the numbers, Peter Stanford talks also about another special role that NMHS members and other maritime groups have to play in the success of OpSail. "We need to get across this message: 'It is not just a parade-these are working ships! '-working ships that are equipping young people to cope with the sea, to learn to live with themselves and to learn to live with people of other nations. What could be more important than that?" KH If you 're staying at a hotel in Boston in July and are served a
Basque seafood dish, it may be because the 370-ft four-masted topsail schooner Juan Sebastian de Elcano is in town. Sail Boston '92 is emerging as a successful public-private partnership. One of the many programs linking the tall ships to the host community is a hotel host program which will dress seventeen hotels in the 36
colors and culture of ships of different countries. In the maritime mix of events, there will be things both old and new. On Saturday, July 11 , the stout and stately USS Constitution will make one of its rare dock departures to greet the parading tall ships, while later that week 10 of the world's 15 maxi yachts, those sleek, super-modem 25m racing vessels rarely seen in American waters, will duke it out in the Maxi Yacht Regatta. The Grand Parade of Sail itself will feature more than 125 tall ships from 30 countries. "We have vessels coming from as far away as Japan, India and Australia," says veteran Sail Boston director Dusty Rhodes, " . . . and we 're expecting two to three million visitors and an estimated 8,000 spectator craft." The numbers don't faze Port officials however. "The Port of Boston has 360 years of experience in handling vessels ranging from schooners to the world' s largest container vessels," says Alden Raine, Executive Director ofMassport. The tall ships will be open to the publicfreeofchargefrom Sunday, July 12 through Wednesday, July 15. The primary berthing areas are the EDIC/Marine Industrial Park, the World Trade Center and the Charlestown Navy Yard. Other cultural and music events will be spread throughout the waterfront. For information write Sail Boston 1992, 250 Summer Street, Boston MA 02210 or call 617 330-1992. KH
GRAND REGATTA
COLUMBUS 92Ql ÂŤNCE~TENARY
ESTIMATED ARRIVAL 16April 23April 29April 11 May 10 June 3July 10July 10August
HARBOUR Genoa Lisbon Cadiz
ESTIMATED DEPARTU RE 19April 25April 3 May 13 May 14 June
Canaries San Juan Puerto Rico New Yo rk 7 July Boston 16 July Liverpool 15 Augu st
KEY Race Leg-- Cruise in company - -
-
The sight of the departing Grand Regatta fleet off the coast of Cadiz, Spain on May 3rd, the sail of over 250 sailing vessels spreading out for miles and miles, will have no modem comparison. We would have to go back 400 years in these waters to find a fleet of this size-back to the Spanish Armada of 1588. It will be a scene in contrast to the departure of Columbus's trio of tiny vessels 500 years ago, but not out of all proportion, not if we consider the thousands upon thousands SEA HISTORY 61 , SPRING 1992
't