On short notice, it's hard to find space for one ship nearly 100 feet in length and in height, let alone four.
But SailGloucester organizers made it work late Sunday night and early yesterday morning.
As part of its debut Fourth of July celebration, the non-profit volunteer alliance received word that four more tall ships would be paying an unexpected visit to port.
The Spirit of Bermuda was the first to arrive at 9:30 p.m. Sunday night, and is now staying in Brown's Boatyard. Urania followed suit at 10 p.m., and now rests across from the barque Picton Castle at Cruiseport, while the Tecla and the Europa sailed in yesterday morning, now moored in Southeast Harbor and the Jodrey State Fish Pier, respectively.
"Once one ship made the decision, it was like a ripple effect," said Ally O'Connor, executive director of SailGloucester. "One thing we learned is that ships travel together when they are racing and when they are culturally tied to each other."
All of the visiting ships, including the original five that came in over the weekend, leave today after the Rev. Eugene Alves of Our Lady of Good Voyage Church blesses the ships at 9:15 a.m.
The ships are all participants in the American Sail Training Association's 2009 Tall Ships Atlantic Challenge, which includes seven individual races: one from Spain to the Canary Islands, then another to Bermuda, to Charleston, S.C., to Boston, to Halifax, and finally from Halifax to Belfast in the United Kingdom.
"One of the things my organization does is coordinate tall ships for the Tall Ships Atlantic Challenge, and Ally contacted me a couple weeks ago, asked me if some of our ships could come to Gloucester," said Bert Rogers, executive director of American Sail Training Association. "Obviously, we didn't want to affect the races, but they've managed to do both."
O'Connor said she was contacted about the additional ships late Sunday night with very little time to plan, but she never considered turning them down and has had no trouble finding space at various places in the harbor.
"We were participating in the race from Charleston to Boston, and we had some time before needed to be in Boston; we were considering Salem or Marblehead, but we decided on Gloucester," said Robbert van den Oord, the commanding officer of Urania, which serves as the training vessel for the Royal Netherlands Navy.
O'Connor said having these tall ships visit Gloucester has a great impact on the city's economy, tourism, marine repair, and, most importantly, education. The coordination with American Sail Training Association has allowed teenagers and young adults to try something out of habit, something truly extraordinary.
"I love bringing young people to Gloucester," said Capt. Simon Colley of Spirit of Bermuda, which is carrying 15 trainees ages 15-20, along with eight professional crew members. He teaches them many different aspects of sailing in hopes they'll have fun, even if they don't find a career interest as a mariner.
"What I tell young people when I come to Gloucester is that this is a town that knows what they are seeing," he said. "Whether you're rowing or sailing in, they can tell if you're doing something right or if you mess it up."
Even though the ships leave for Boston this morning, their presence has brought a renewed sense of tradition to Gloucester's harbor. O'Connor said she hopes to soon certify the port as a "tall ships port," and expects to see some of these ships back in the future.
Colley, for one, would be on board for a return trip.
"Bermuda is a country with a proud, maritime culture, like Gloucester," Colley said, "so it's great to introduce these people to Gloucester and its historic community."
Cameron Kittle can be reached at gt_reporter@gloucestertimes.com
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