Tall-ship event pegged for city's July 4 weekend

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June 15, 2009

By Patrick Anderson The Gloucester Daily Times Mon Jun 15, 2009, 05:50 AM EDT

1Sail Gloucester, a new volunteer alliance of maritime business and tourism interests, has announced that the 179-foot-long barque Picton Castle will come to Gloucester July 4-5 as part of a nautical Independence Day celebration.

The group has invited more tall ships and Executive Director Ally O'Connor said yesterday she expects additional vessels will sign on in the coming weeks.

"We have been letting ships sail by," said O'Connor, a city resident and event planner. "People and avid sailors have been saying 'why aren't we participating in these things.' If we do our job right, hopefully this will bring additional economic impact in tourism, commerce, business and maritime trades."

The new group is looking to build from and work with the organizers of the annual Gloucester Schooner Festival — the city's traditional late-summer weekend of tall ships — as well as other businesses and organizations that look to draw people to the city, such as Seaport Gloucester and the Cape Ann Chamber of Commerce.

In addition to attracting visiting tall ships and organizing events, O'Connor said the group will work to promote the area's marinas and maritime trades, including boat repair services and builders.

O'Connor described the organization as a "single source for visiting seagoing vessels," that will market the city as a "world-class port" for commerce and tourism and sailing education.

The Picton Castle is an 81-year-old steel-hulled Welsh fishing trawler refitted as a three-masted square rigger for use as an inter-ocean sail training vessel and marine classroom.

Based in the Cook Islands and Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, the Picton Castle weighs 300 tons and now sails around the world teaching people how to sail.

The ship will be available for public deck tours Saturday, July 4 and 5, before leaving port July 7.

With its identity firmly rooted in the commercial fishing industry, Gloucester has a mixed reputation as a sailing destination and among recreational boaters, in large part because of limited transient mooring and dockage space and shoreside facilities.

For many in the city, efforts to attract more recreational boaters and tourists to the waterfront are seen as a threat to the fishing industry and a move toward making the city another Newport R.I.

But O'Connor said yesterday her group has no intention of working to increase recreational boat access or facilities and did not want to "gentrify" the harbor.

"This city has been a maritime port since its inception, whether it is fishing or mixed use," O'Connor said. "The mission of what we are trying to do is present the port in the most positive light. We want to say all ships are welcome."

O'Connor said one of her group's first goals is to certify Gloucester as an official Tall Ship Port with the American Sailing Training Association.

Another objective is to draw some of the grant money other communities with tall ship festivals receive.

Patrick Anderson can be reached at panderson@gloucestertimes.com