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OpSAIL 2000: New York harbor girding for 'largest maritime event in history'
The Colombian ship, Gloria, passes in a parade of tall and historic ships through San Francisco Bay, in this July 2, 1999, file photo. The Gloria, part of Operation Sail 2000, will join an estimated 70,000 watercraft beginning July 3, as they converge on New York harbor for what organizers call the "largest maritime event in history." More than 180 sailing vessels from 60 nations will share attention with 40 modern warships of 23 navies in an International Naval Review, thesixth in 107 years. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)
- By RICHARD PYLE
- Associated Press Writer
NEW YORK - If predictions hold, it will dwarf the Spanish armada, the Normandy invasion fleet and every regatta ever held - as many as 70,000 watercraft jammed into New York harbor for what organizers call the "largest maritime event in history."
At the center of the week-long affair beginning July 3 is Operation Sail 2000, the latest gathering of wind-powered "tall ships." This year, more than 180 sailing vessels from 60 nations will share attention with 40 modern warships of 23 navies in an International Naval Review, the sixth in 107 years.
Gotham is the most important port of call in the tall ships' nine-week coastal cruise from San Juan, Puerto Rico on May 25 to Portland, Maine, on July 31, with stops in Miami, Norfolk, Va.; Baltimore, Philadelphia and New London, Conn. Brochures say the "parade of sail" will be 30 miles long.
But the real story could be the thousands of commercial and private yachts, sailboats, cabin cruisers and other small craft flooding into New York. The Coast Guard recently upped its estimate from 40,000 to 70,000 - nearly three times the number at the 1986 Statue of Liberty centennial.
Coast Guard Warrant Officer Lionel Bryant says the estimate is based on contacts with marinas and boat owners: "We expect boats from Chesapeake Bay to Florida, and some owners plan to trailer boats cross-country, from as far away as Colorado."
Capt. Woody Berzins, a Navy spokesman says. "It's been jokingly suggested" that one might be able to walk across the harbor without getting wet.
Space off Brooklyn's Bay Ridge section is reserved for the QE2 and more than 20 other vessels over 197 feet.
Private craft may either anchor singly or "raft" together to avoid tangling lines. The Coast Guard expects every kind of boat, from 100-foot yachts and hired fishers to small runabouts and daysailers, Bryant says. "Some people may even come out in kayaks, although that might get a bit uncomfortable after nine hours."
The Coast Guard will supplement its patrol fleet with Coast Guard auxiliary members and reservists. Seeking a "good neighbor" atmosphere, Bryant says, it will impose a dusk curfew on Jet Skis and discourage the pumping out of holding tanks at anchor. Cell phones probably will be useless in the communications crush.
"This is going to be a very difficult job, but we definitely have the experience and expertise to do it," he says. "It will be something like Times Square on New Year's Eve for the New York police department."
On July 4, President Clinton, aboard the missile cruiser USS Hue City, will review the naval cruisers, destroyers and frigates anchored in a 17-mile line from the George Washington Bridge to Verrazano. He then moves to the aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy, anchored off the Statue of Liberty, to watch the stately procession of tall ships - schooners, brigantines, barques and square-riggers - pass up the harbor, while 80 aircraft buzz overhead.
A July 4 fireworks display - "the largest in the world to date," according to one hyperbolic OpSail 2000 statement - will use 13 barges at five different harbor locations.
Operation Sail, established by President John F. Kennedy in 1961 to promote international relations and cultural exchange, has figured in such landmark events as the 1964 New York World's Fair, the U.S. Bicentennial in 1976, the Statue of Liberty centennial in 1986 and the Christopher Columbus Quincentennial in 1992.
OpSail describes itself today as a non-profit organization "dedicated to sail training and good will among nations." It draws corporate support, provides scholarships and has many business leaders, admirals and navy-oriented lawmakers and government officials on a board of trustees whose honorary chairman, fittingly, is an ex-anchorman, Walter Cronkite.
Currently, OpSail expects as many as 180 wind-powered vessels. The flagship will again be the U.S. Coast Guard training barque, Eagle, originally a trophy seized from Nazi Germany in World War II.
Most others are also naval training vessels, such as the Chilean navy's 371-foot four-master Esmerelda, Germany's 295-foot barque Gorch Fock, a sister ship to Eagle; Venezuela's Simon Bolivar, and Italy's triple-decked Amerigo Vespucci.
Russia is sending the four-masters Kruzenshtern and Mir, both from St. Petersburg. The Philadelphia-based Gazela, built in Portugal in 1883, is the oldest wooden square-rigger still in active service; Amistad is a recreation of a famed 19th century slave ship, and HMS Rose is a replica of an Elizabethan-era vessel raised at Portsmouth Harbor.
Argentina, Bulgaria, Canada, Denmark, India, Ireland, Japan, Romania, Spain, Sweden and Ukraine are among other countries participating.
The most familiar silhouette in the naval lineup is the aging JFK - described in a Congressional resolution as "the symbol of the international goodwill of the United States." The conventionally powered carrier, based at Norfolk, Va., is a fixture of New York's annual "Fleet Week" - welcome in the harbor from which the Navy's newer, nuclear-powered carriers are barred.
Along with Clinton, some 5,000 Navy guests will watch the show from the flight decks of the JFK, USS Mount Whitney and USS Nassau. Five other U.S. warships will dock in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Staten Island.
While past naval reviews commemorated landmarks in U.S. history, this year's joint event will serve as the Navy's "official observance" of the millennium.
At New York's first International Naval Review in 1893, President Grover Cleveland belatedly marked the 400th anniversary of Columbus's initial voyage to the New World. The next two, at Hampton Roads, Va., in 1908 and 1957, commemorated the founding of the Jamestown Colony.
The 1976 U.S. Bicentennial combined Operation Sail and the naval review for the first time, with warships from 40 nations, the most ever, in New York harbor. The last INR, in 1986, was part of the Statue of Liberty's 100th birthday party, with President Ronald Reagan greeting warships from 25 countries.
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