Columbus 500

The sailor reaches his destination the moment the sails are raised.

-Unknown Source

The Yarn

From June 13, 1992 - July 11, 1992, I sailed as paying crew aboard Soren Larsen a 140' brigantine. The Columbus 500 was to celebrate Columbus's discovery of the New World. It was a once in a lifetime experience. Flying into Puerto Rico, all the tall ships were visible from the air as the plane banked in for a landing. The view of tall ships as far as the eye could see was breathtaking. Here is a photo I took of just one pier.

We left Puerto Rico, and sailed to San Salvador, to visit the supposed first landing site of Columbus. A number of Australians, who were on the boat tried to recreate the moment, and a moment is all we had as a storm came blowing in.

After a quick stop in Nassau, we sailed up the Gulf stream toward NYC. The weather was hot, but beautiful. We saw a shuttle launch. For me though night sailing in nice weather is what I'll remember.

In NYC, we got a so-so welcome. We were docked in Brooklyn across from the South Street Seaport. I got a change to board many of the tall ships, and talk with members of various crews.

We sailed up the East River and into Long Island Sound. We stopped a night at Mystic Seaport, who were gloriously nice to us. I really like Mystic.

Back out into Long Island Sound and up to the Cape Cod Canal. We anchored for the night, to catch a favorable tide, and residents brought their boats out and came alongside, which was very enjoyable. Early the next morning we were out there with joggers and such as we headed up the canal to Boston. Again anchored off of Boston Harbor folks came out to chat, and were very nice. The parade of sail, was a bit overcast, but there were zillions of boats lining the Parade route. I really enjoyed walking around in Boston, and they treated the boats very well.

I'm always open to adding resources to my list, so if you know of other items, give me a holler: mbrmbr@acm.org

Form last updated: Dec 28 1993.