Tall Ships in Newport

Tall Ships have once again invaded Narragansett Bay and Newport Harbor. The Tall Ships festival really starts tomorrow (Thursday June 28), but I only had today off in the entire time they're here, and today was the day when the last of the ships arrived. So I headed down to the waterfront with my camera and let fly!

The first ship I got a good shot of was the Cisne Branco out of Brazil, docked at the State Pier at the end of Long Wharf. They had a live samba band aboard just bopping away!

Next I headed a short way up the road to  the Goat Island Causeway to head out to Goat Island to see who was moored out in Narragansett Bay. On the way there I took this bow-on shot of the Cisne Branco.

Well, I took some shots of the Gorch Fock of Germany and the Gloria of Colombia, but I have better shots of them later on, so it's back to downtown Newport. On the way down to Bowen's and Bannister's Wharfs I saw this ship, the Taragini, who had just arrived at her dock behind the Newport Harbor Hotel. She's listed as a US ship but she's also flying the flag of India. I haven't figured out what that's all about!

I arrived at Oldport Marina to check on the harbor launch over to Fort Adams, and when I discovered they left every half hour I decided to go find lunch before I went over. Obn the way back to Brick Market Place and Sushi Go, one of my favorite downtown spots for lunch, I glanced over at the Newport Harbor Hotel and my eye was caught by the spectacle of the masts of the Taragini and the Spirit of Massachusetts looming over the roof. Now who could resist that shot???

Lunch eaten, back to Oldport Marina to wait for the launch. Well, we got delayed for about an hour. Little did we know that the Gloria from Colombia was arriving at her berth on Bannister's Wharf right then. We had to wait until the "all clear" from the Coast Guard but that was okay. This was one of the most glorious (pun fully intended) occasions of my life. But I've decided it's too much of a subject to fit in this article, so I'm writing another photo essay on Gloria's docking. In any case, here she is arriving at the dock, with all her crew standing in the shrouds and singing the Colombian National Anthem. 

After the bedlam of Gloria docking we finally got on the launch and headed across the harbor to Fort Adams, a Revolutionary War and War of 1812 era fort now a historical site and museum (and the home of the famous Newport Folk and Jazz Festivals). Just as we pulled up to the dock at the fort this lovely ship started to enter the harbor (the fort covers the south entrance to the harbor). I got off in a hurry and got up to a vantage point better for taking pictures. This is the Prince William from the UK, and that's the Newport Bridge in the background.

After catching the Prince William coming in, I went over to the Fort Adams docking area to look at who was there. This is a shot of all three together, sort of a self-conciously artsy tangle of masts and lines. The ships are the Friendship out of Salem, MA, the sloop Providence out of (you guessed it!) Providence, RI (although she spends most of her time out at fort Adams), and the Dewaruci from Indonesia. We'll take a closer look at all three.

This is the sloop Providence, with the Dewaruci behind her. About 25 years ago a good buddy of mine was her First Mate, and he used to invite me and some others aboard to listen to the Jazz Festival (the Folk Festival hadn't been revived yet at that time) for a couple of years, until he hurt his back and could no longer do the kind of work required on a sailing ship. She's a beauty, and she's a sweet mover, too!

And here's the Dewaruci from Indonesia, docked just outboard of the Providence. The crew was dancing on the deck to the music of a band they'd brought along. The public was invited aboard to join in, but I had too many other things to attend to, like more ships arriving offshore to take pictures of.

And here's the Friendship out of Salem, MA. She's actually the first one of the three you come to, but this shot as I was heading out to the Bay side of the fort was the shot that came out the best. 

Over to the other side of the fort to watch the ships come in from Narragansett Bay. This is the whaler Mystic out of Mystic, CT. As you can see, the breeze was way up by this time, and those boats under sail (some of the bigger ones came in under motor and tug) were close-hauled and moving!

This is the Gorch Fock, home port Bremen, Germany, moored in Narragansett Bay off Goat Island. They just refitted her a couple of years ago and now she draws too much water (translation: she's too big, reaches down too deep) to fit in Newport Harbor. So she's all by her lonesome out in the bay!

This is the Picton Castle from New Zealand. I had some shots of her under full sail coming up the bay, but it was really hazy out there today, and looking south in the full sun just made those shots unusable, at least by my standards. Oh well, here she is with the sun behind me entering the harbor under motor.

Is this a gorgeous boat or what? Look at the rake of those masts!!! That's the Pride of Baltimore, and man, Baltimore has every right to be proud of her! She is one sweet mover, and in the next paragraph and picture I'll show you just how sweet.

Here's a shot of the race that had everybody in sight out at Fort Adams running to the shore to watch. Apparently either the crew of the Pride of Baltimore or the crew of that unknown racing yacht threw out a challenge, and they were off. Look how close-hauled they are, and how close together. They were really moving. The Pride pulled ahead on the outside and finally turned towards shore (at US!!!!) and forced the yacht to give up the race. The yacht easily turned and headed back toward the harbor, but we were all afraid the Pride was going to run aground right in front of us. Not to worry; that baby turned on a dime!

And with that I headed back to the dock and caught the next launch back to town. I was burnt to a crisp and hungry, so it was time to get myself home. I hope you've enjoyed this jaunt with the Tall Ships on their 2007 visit to Newport as much as I have. Stay tuned for The Glorious Gloria Arrives in Port.