Op Sail 2012 was a big shebang, very big, celebrated in the US in the ports of New York, New Orleans, Norfolk, Baltimore, New London and Boston. Organized around the Bicentennial anniversary of the War of 1812 and the writing of the Star Spangled Banner, the 2012 event is 6th Operation Sail event. Kicked off in 1964, Op Sail was the culmination of worldwide efforts by the late maritime historian Frank Braynard and IBM executive Nils Hansell to create an event designed to foster international goodwill by bringing together sailing ships from nations from all corners of the globe to gather for a fabulous parade of sail into New York harbor. And so in conjunction with the New York World’s Fair, Op Sail was born, an instant huge success which has been followed up by 5 additional Op Sail events, each tied to an American historical event, each bigger and better than the last. But Op Sail 2012 seems to have been the most spectacular of them all, especially in Virginia, where the event was expanded for the first time to include not only the traditional port of Norfolk but also several small nearby ports including Cape Charles as part of the Tall Ships at Cape Charles Festival as well as the port of Onancock on Virginia’s Eastern Shore.
Fortunately for those of us who live on the Eastern Shore, one of the main events of the entire festival is the “Parade of Sail“, the magnificentfive mile long flotilla featuring of scores of international tall ships accompanied by military vessels from the US Navy and Coast Guard as well as literally hundreds of local sail and power boats, streaming across the water, escorting the international ships to the tall ship’s main anchorages in downtown Norfolk and Portsmouth. The ships overnighted in near Lesner Bridge in Virginia Beach and at dawn prepared to parade from the Lynnhavenanchorage, through the mouthof the Chesapeake Bay and up the Elizabeth River into Norfolk, a spectacular fleet which, if all the ships were placed end to end, would be an amazing 7700 feet long !
Happily, this Parade involves passing directly over the first tunnel of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and Tunnel which connects the Eastern Shore of Virginia to the city of Virginia Beach on the mainland ! Which meant that tickets to view from both the first and second Bridge Islands were available for this one-of-a-kind show and we were lucky enough to get two tickets for the closest Island, One Island at Thimble Shoal, rather than for Two Island without restaurant and restroom facilities. So even though we are not normally crack-of-dawn people, by 5:30 am on the day, we were up and scurrying around, grabbing hats, sun screen, a tiny cooler for water, binoculars, all the little comfort things, getting on the road before 6. Seating was on a first-come basis and we were hoping to get a front row seat on the bleachers, which, amazingly, we were able to do !
The day was simply beautiful- a sunrise of pinks and peach, cloudless sky, good breezes all morning long ( thank heavens, hard to sail without the wind gods behind you), water sparkling, everyone on the Island in sky-high spirits, thrilled to be there for this special, once in a decade or so, event. The Parade was kicked off by the US Coast Guard ship, the USS Eagle. The 295 foot Eagle has an interesting history having been built in Germany, launched in 1939 as the SSS Horst Wessel, but ending up in the possession of the United States after WWII as part of German war reparations. A training ship for Coast Guard cadets and a goodwill ambassador for the US, the aptly named Eagle gleamed in the morning sun, her 22,000 square feet of white sails billowing, proud as a mother swan with all her cygnets streaming along behind her although probably those magnificent ships behind her might not like the comparison.
The announcer for the nearly 3 hour program was Captain Sara Cole, commander of the Learning Barge. ( The Learning Barge was, of course, not in the Parade but it is a fascinating vessel in its own right. Winner of several national awards including one from the EPA, this vessel was hand built over 3 years as a project between the University of Virginia School of Architecture and the Elizabeth River Project, a local environmental group. The Learning Barge is essentially a floating lab where students can sample water quality, identify pollution, learn about restoration of wetlands, grow algae, learn about sustainability, all hands-on. ) At any rate, Capt. Cole had amassed a great deal of information about each of the tall ships and military vessels participating in the Parade.
Thus I learned several new nautical terms including “dressing ship” which she indicated means just what it sounds like- dressing the ship to the nines, no diamonds or rubys included there, just every signal flag flying, weighted, an array of colors and symbols adorning these dramatic ships, many like the Eaglefunctioning as training ships and goodwill ambassadors for their countries. Several Navy ships participated, including a helicopter escorted US submarine which was the concluding boat in the Parade. From the US, several well-known tall sailing ships including replias of the Bounty and Godspeed, the amazing Kalmar Nyckel from Delaware and the Pride of Baltimore as well as the 3 ships destined for Cape Charles, the Lynx, the Appledore and the Sultana. In addition to ships from the US, from Indonesia, Mexico, Columbia, Brazil, Spain, the Cook Islands, Bermuda, Germany, Canada, Denmark and the United Kingdom they sailed, already having visited New York and New Orleans. After the visit in Virginia, the longest visit of all, the fleet would be off to Baltimore, Boston and New London. And there they would no doubt wow their audiences, just as all of us out on Thimble Shoal’s One Island that lovely summer morning were thrilled by the 2012 Op Sail’s Parade of Sail, serenely crossing the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay.
(Posted by Marlene Cree, licensed Virginia agent with Blue Heron Realty Co., 7134 Wilsonia Neck Dr., Machipongo, VA)
