The vessels will dock at Maine State Pier, Maine Wharf, and Ocean Gateway Megaberth for the festival. Ships will be open for tours on Sunday, July 19th and Monday, July 20th. Visitors will have the opportunity to board these historic vessels at the dock and talk to the crew about a sailor’s life in the modern world. Tickets are required and can be purchased at www.tallshipsportland.com or at the gate. Daysail tickets are also available for those visitors who wish to set sail aboard a tall ship and experience the thrill of sailing around Portland Harbor at www.portlandschooners.com.
Iberdrola USA Tall Ships® Portland 2015 is the final event in the TALL SHIPS CHALLENGE® Series, an annual series of Tall Ships® Races and maritime port festivals that rotate between the Atlantic Coast, Great Lakes, Pacific Coast, and Gulf Coast. These events celebrate our rich maritime heritage and traditions and inform the general public about the transformative power of Adventure and Education Under Sail®.
The TALL SHIPS CHALLENGE® Series is coordinated by Tall Ships America, the national sail training organization representing the United States and Canada in the international forum. As a non-profit membership organization, Tall Ships America supports the people, ships and programs of sail training and is the hub for tall ships activity, expertise, and information in North America.
“The tall ship races and maritime festivals create a unique opportunity to share our vital industry with the general public,” states Eliza Braunstein, TALL SHIPS CHALLENGE® Assistant and member of Tall Ships America’s Race Team. “Each tall ship has its own educational program and mission, providing festival-goers with a wide variety of vessels to learn about and explore.”
If the 70’ schooner ALERT looks familiar, she was a frequent visitor to Maine’s piers from 2006 to 2012. Back then, she was a fishing schooner, operating out of Portland as a commercial ground fishing vessel and research vessel. In 2013, she was purchased by Tevake Sailing Charters and joined their charter fleet on Bailey Island. Now, ALERT has returned to Portland for this weekend only, providing festival-goers with the opportunity to step onto the deck of this unique vessel.
The 88' schooner BAGHEERA is one of Portland Schooner Company's historic windjammers. A vintage Alden design, she won the historic annual Chicago-Mackinac Race several years running. After more than 80 years of cruising the world's oceans, Bagheera has returned home to Maine.
The 100’ schooner BOWDOIN, built to explore Arctic waters, is one of the strongest wooden vessels
ever constructed. From 1921 to 1954, explorer Admiral MacMillan sailed her across the Arctic Circle twenty-nine times. Today, BOWDOIN is the flagship of the Maine Maritime Academy (MMA) sail training fleet and the official sailing vessel of the state of Maine.
One of five sister ships built for sail training in Germany in the 1930s and acquired via German reparations to America after World War II, the 295’ barque EAGLE is now America’s Tall Ship and the training vessel of the Coast Guard Academy. Aboard EAGLE, cadets experience life at sea for the first time and learn to serve as the leaders they will one day become in the Coast Guard.
EL GALEÓN ANDALUCÍA is a 164’ replica of a traditional galleon, the type of vessel used by the Spanish Crown for maritime expeditions during the sixteenth through the eighteenth centuries. Galleons were intended to discover and then establish trade routes between Spain, America, and the Philippines and formed what was then called the “Fleet of the Indies”.
The 74' gaff-rigged topsail cutter FRANCES is a replica of working coastal pilot cutters that sailed the waters of Maine and New England between 1790 and 1812. Used for local coastal trading, these small sloops carried and traded salt, fish, furs, and lumber.
FRITHA is a 74’ wooden brigantine owned and operated by Northeast Maritime Institute out of Fairhaven, MA. Fritha is the main training platform for The Fairhaven Project, whose mission is to foster leadership development through sea-going experiences for young adults living in conflicted areas of the world. In addition to learning topics such as coastal navigation, seamanship and marine ecology, students plan and cook their own meals, collaborate on projects and visit cultural sites – all the while learning vital lessons about teamwork and equality. The word ‘fairhaven’ means ‘safe harbor’ and that is exactly what the program strives to create – a safe harbor – a place for its participants to be safe and enjoy life as young adults.
America’s Privateer LYNX is a 122’ square topsail schooner designed and built to interpret the general configuration and operation of a privateer or naval schooner from the War of 1812. LYNX crew members wear period clothing and operate the ship in keeping with the maritime traditions of early nineteenth-century America.
OLIVER HAZARD PERRY is the first ocean-going full-rigged ship to be built in the US in 110 years and is named for the young Rhode Island hero of the Battle of Lake Erie who wrote in 1813, “We have met the enemy and they are ours…” The 207’ vessel is a platform for a wide range of educational programs and has been designed to serve both the able and disabled.
The 179’ barque PICTON CASTLE is a traditionally rigged and operated sail training ship based in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, Canada, but best known for her voyages around the world. The tall ship has just returned from her sixth circumnavigation of the globe and her crew looks forward to sharing stories and mementos from their travels.
The 91’ gaff rigged schooner TREE OF LIFE, with her fir deck and teak interior, is a beautiful yet durable vessel that has sailed around the world. Now based in Newport Harbor, she sails throughout New England waters with a small crew and trainees.
The 88' schooner WENDAMEEN was designed by the famed yacht designer John Alden and is one of the Portland Schooner Company's historic windjammers. She was built in East Boothbay, Maine, and launched in 1912 when she took center stage in the golden era of fast, sleek ocean schooners.
Tickets to tour the vessels will be available at the gate or online at www.tallshipsportland.com. TIcket options are $15 for 10AM-5PM access on Sunday; $13 for 5PM-9PM access on Sunday; or $15 for 10AM-5PM access on Monday. Active military with ID and children five and under may attend at no cost. There will also be plenty of exhibitors, food trucks, vendors and entertainment on the festival grounds and on the walking trail between the event site piers.
While the other vessels are open for dockside tours, local vessels BAGHEERA, FRANCES, and WENDAMEEN will offer day sails throughout the event. Tickets for these two hour excursions are available at www.tallshipsportland.com. Those who purchased these tickets in advance can board the vessels at their regular berths along Maine State Pier in Old Port for a sailing excursion around Portland Harbor. Please be ready to board fifteen minutes before departure. All other festival-goers may have the opportunity to view the vessels underway from the festival grounds and see them set sail (as conditions allow).
For more information about the summer races and festivals or to learn how to sign aboard a tall ship, please visit www.sailtraining.org/tallships/2015atlantic/TSC2015index.php. Contact Lori Aguiar by phone (401-846-1775), by email (lori@tallshipsamerica.org), or by post (PO Box 1459, Newport, RI 02840) with questions. Information specific to Iberdrola USA Tall Ships® Portland 2015 can be found at www.tallshipsportland.com. Please note that vessels are subject to change.
No comments:
Post a Comment