Tall Ship Oliver Hazard Perry releases 2018 program schedule

by Barby MacGowan on 9 Nov 2017 After completing a full schedule of programs and festivals in New England, Bermuda and Cuba during 2017, the 200-foot Tall Ship SSV Oliver Hazard Perry is preparing for her 2018 adventures, which will take her to Charleston, S.C. and St. Petersburg, Fla. before she sails south to Cuba and Jamaica. Perry is America’s newest Tall Ship and Rhode Island’s Official Sailing Education Vessel.

2018 Programs and Festivals

Explorers of every age can register for the all-ages voyage (18+) from Charleston, S.C. to St. Petersburg, Fla. over January 28-February 11, and an open-enrollment round-trip Cuba program, targeted towards high school students, will take place from March 4-17. (A school program passage has been scheduled from St. Petersburg to Cuba over February 16-25 and is not open to the public.)

Perry will then participate in the Tall Ships Challenge Gulf Coast 2018, where she will join a Parade of Sail in Galveston, Pensacola and New Orleans before hosting public deck tours from April 5-8, April 13-15 and April 20-22, respectively, in each city.

After the Tall Ships Challenge, a second all-ages voyage is being offered from New Orleans to Annapolis, Maryland over April 25-May 10, followed by an exclusive program for the Naval Academy Preparatory School (NAPS) as they sail the ship up to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

“We are so proud of how far our programs have come and the variety of programs ahead of us,” said Oliver Hazard Perry Rhode Island (OHPRI) Executive Director Jessica Wurzbacher. “For 2018, we are offering more adult voyages like the ones that were so successful in 2017. We are bringing back partners such as NAPS as well as innovative school programs, and we are heading to new and exciting destinations. Taking part in the Tall Ships Challenge will be a wonderful way for more people along the U.S. coastline to learn about SSV Oliver Hazard Perry as well as her educational mission and programs.”

More About SSV Oliver Hazard Perry

Perry is a USCG-approved Sailing School Vessel, and all who participate in her sailing programs become part of the crew. No one is a passenger. Instead, everyone lives aboard and works side-by-side with professional crew to learn square-rig seamanship, including bracing the yards, steering the ship and even going aloft if they wish to do so.

OHPRI’s mission is to provide innovative, empowering education-at-sea programs that promote personal and professional growth. The mission is achieved by partnering with schools, organizations, and universities for unique experiential learning opportunities that incorporate STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics) educational concepts. The non-profit organization offers a variety of onboard learning experiences to program partners as well as the broader public and also participates at festivals and other events to reinforce the importance of and interest in Rhode Island’s and America’s maritime history.

SSV Oliver Hazard Perry is a 21st Century Tall Ship that has been eight years in the making and was completed with $17 million in private funds. Named for U.S. Navy Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry, the Rhode Island war hero who defeated the British in the battle of Lake Eire, she is the first ocean-going full-rigged Tall Ship to be built in America in over a hundred years. Perry is not a replica, but instead a modern, steel-hulled vessel purpose-built for training and education to the highest modern safety standards. She accommodates 49 people overnight (including 17 professional crew).