chooners and square riggers jockeyed for position at the 2007 Tall Ships Rhode Island Parade of Sail in Narragansett Bay on 1 July. Approxim ately 25 0,000 people traveled to Newport and the region for the weekend-long even t, which celebrated its grand fi nale on Sunday with the parade. Ocean Classroom Foundation, owner and operator of the schooners Spirit ofM assachusetts, Harvey Gamage, and Westward, was generous enough to invite us onboard their schooner Spirit of Massachusetts for the procession. It's a thrill to see the ships from shore as they pass by, but being onboard and seeing the big sq uare-riggers and schooners as they pass on one whistle can't be beat. Nearly twenty Class A and B ships participated in the events, including a gro up of internationally-registered squarerigged training ships from Germany, India, Can ada, Colombia, Brazil, and Indonesia. The event was a major tourist attraction to the Ocean State, but it served a nobler purpose as well. As an official part of Tall Ships Rhode Island 2007, gro ups of Rhode Island teens joined some of the ships' crews for a week or more. To promote and celebrate all that sail training in the 21 st century stands for, the Tall Ships festival and the American Sail Training Association (ASTA), based in Newport, RI, covered the students' expenses onboard. On the Spirit of Massachusetts, Captain Richard Bailey and his crew were assisted by a group of youths who had just finished a week's worth of sail training with them. They beam ed with pride as they demonstrated their newly acquired sailhandling ski lls ro the res t of us on board. Individuals participating in sail training programs typically pay for th e trip privately or through scholarship program s. The
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experience can be character-bui ld ing to say the least. Cell phon es and iPods are left behind, and, beyond the seamanshi p skills they inevitably mas ter, many disembark having gained a whole lot more. Kudos to ASTA and the event organizers for remembering the sp irit of what "Tall Ships" events are really about. For the parade of sail, parti cipants and spectators enjoyed a perfect weather day. The ships kept in line relatively well as the Coast Guard vigilantly maintain ed guard against the frequent spectator boats that, perhaps well-meani ng in their enthusiasm, got in the path of a large-tonnage vessel under sail working ro keep in the assigned position in the procession. One tradition we see in some of the international sail training square-riggers during parades of sail is the manning of the yards by cadets, as seen in the photo below onboard Colombia's Gloria. India's sailors in Taragini manned their yards for part of the day as well. Both ships earned the respect of crews in other vessels, and these same crews we re relieved ro be allowed to spend most of their day o n deck (hand ling lines, of course). The 249foot barque Gloria, in cidentally, had engine tro uble not long after getting out of Newport H arbor and ended up having to anchor in the bay for the parade. These ships all transit at sea under sail, but you ca n't m aintain a line-up for a parade without an engine. ASTA organizes a series ofTall Shi psÂŽraces, crew rallies, and port events on a different coast of the US each summer. 1his year, the ASTA Beet had visited Charleston , SC, and Norfolk, VA, before arrivin g in Newport. Visitwww.tallships.sailtraining.org and www.oceanclassroom.org for more information on ASTA and the Ocean Classroom Foundation, respectively. ,!, -DO'R
Captain Richard Bailey (center) and his crew in Spirit of Massachusetts line up for the p arade ofsail.