Tall Ship passes final tests; teen and family voyages set for summer

by Barby MacGowan on 27 Jul 2016 The 200-foot Tall Ship SSV Oliver Hazard Perry caused heads to turn last week while she completed drills on Narragansett Bay under full sail and in brisk breezes.

The drills, as well as inspections, have been required by the US Coast Guard in order for the ship to qualify as a Sailing School Vessel under USCG regulations. The three-masted, full rigged ship is America’s newest Tall Ship and Rhode Island’s official Sailing Education Vessel. It carries 14,000 sq. ft. of sail area and seven miles of running rigging. Her tallest mast is 13 ½ stories high.

“We are very pleased with the way the crew has come together and that Oliver Hazard Perry has made it through all the complexities of Coast Guard certification to receive her USCG Certificate of Inspection,” said Captain David Dawes, who joined the ship three months ago. “The ship is performing as expected, and we’re confident we’ll be able to give trainees an excellent experience this summer.”

Teen and Adult Voyages

SSV Oliver Hazard Perry’s first trainees will board this weekend (July 31) in Boston during the first of this year’s two scheduled Teen Summer Voyages. The ship will sail with its students to several ports along the coast on its way to Portsmouth, N.H., where it will arrive on August 10. The second teen voyage is scheduled to depart Portsmouth on August 14 and arrive at Fort Adams State Park in Newport, R.I. (where the ship is based) on August 20. (Limited openings are still available for both sessions.)

SSV Oliver Hazard Perry also has just announced its first 2016 Adult and Family Voyage for Labor Day Weekend. It leaves from Fort Adams on Saturday morning, September 3, and returns the afternoon of Monday, September 5. The ship will sail in and around Narragansett Bay, with overnight anchorages that may include (depending on wind and weather) Dutch Harbor, the Sakonnet River, and Block Island. (Each participant under 18 must be accompanied by at least one adult; no prior experience is necessary, and no extraordinary fitness is required.)

Although SSV Oliver Hazard Perry is a new 21st Century Tall Ship, participants of all ages who sail aboard her will connect with a long history of education-at-sea adventures, living aboard and working side-by-side with professional crew to learn square-rig seamanship – including bracing the yards, steering the ship and going aloft – on the first ocean-going full-rigged ship to be built in America in over a hundred years.

For more information on SSV Oliver Hazard Perry and its programs, visit website.