New York Harbor’s Tall Ship Fascination

New York Harbor’s Tall Ship Fascination

Are you old enough to remember the 1976 OpSail tall ship parade in New York Harbor?  Do you know about Sail4th that will celebrate the 250th birthday of the United States next year?  But of course you were following the horrific scene of the Mexican sail training ship striking the Brooklyn Bridge on that Saturday sunset of May 17th.

Irony In the Harbor

Mexico was proud to have their flag displayed at Pier 17’s South Street Seaport, near Manhattan’s Lower East Side, as the Mexican Armada training ship, Cuauhtemoc, was an invited guest to publicly  announce their participation in the 2026 Sail4th celebration.

ARM Cuauhtemoc was also on its global 170 day training tour touting Mexico’s 200th anniversary of freedom from Spain.  It was a festive occasion complete with mariachi bands.  Then the tragedy happened.  The Cuauhtemoc accident occurred under the neon Welcome sign of the old Jehovah Witness Watchtower building seen in the photo below.   Join NYHC in our prayers and memory of Adal Jair Maldonado Marcos and America Yamileth Sanchez Hernandez, the two sailors who perished in the accident.  Future cadets sail with the ongoing spirit of rebuilding and rebirth for Mexico’s naval community.

Just a few days after the accident, without skipping a beat,  the Westside of Manhattan drew crowds as the Spanish Armada training ship, Juan Sebastian de Elcano, docked at Pier 86, next to the Intrepid.  That night, a gala at New York’s Carnegie Hall, announced the entrance of the ship’s most celebrated cadette, the glamorous Princess Leonor of Spain, straight off her ocean voyage duties.

New York knows all too well that the tall ships bring tears as well as joy to the harbor.  I couldn’t help but think about Billy Joel’s “Uptown Girl” pitted against a knockout Downtown Brooklyn waterfront rumble.  Juan Sebastian de Elcano following Cuauhtemoc.  Two very different tales of one city.  Leonard Bernstein’s Sharks and Jets of Westside Story fill my brain with watery visions of orchestrated, dramatic tension.

With extensive repairs now underway at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, sadly, ARM Cuauhtemoc will return to its naval base in Veracruz under its own power to Mexico as the crew has already flown home.  As a training ship, Cuauhtemoc to date has traveled eight hundred thousand nautical miles in its forty year history.

The Start of It All In New York Harbor, OpSail ’76

In 1976, regardless of international politics, the OpSail organizer, Mr. Frank O. Braynard traveled to Russia and convinced America’s most feared adversary to sail their naval training ship into New York Harbor where they would be welcome with two dozen other participants.  Russia accepted the invitation.  All it took was a meeting between President John F. Kennedy, Mr. Braynard, and Walter Cronkite of CBS News a decade earlier.  President Kennedy never lived to see the originally planned ship parade, but the televised event, restructured to celebrate the Bicentennial, drew hundreds of million viewers globally.  Tall ships suddenly found a home with new Nelson ratings media categories beyond the typical marine enthusiast audience.

Let’s take a peek into some of the featured tall ships that participated in the 1976 OpSail. Frank Braynard was an artist as well as a historian, preservationist, and founder of South Street Seaport.  NYHC will highlight some of the very ships Frank sketched for his Portfolio that we have the honor to possess.  Between now and the start of Sail4th, NYHC will post details and conduct interviews with the six ships that will be returning for Sail4th in the same waters fifty years ago.

Sail Training International Organized The 2025 Tall Ships Race Starting July 4th

Our attention is now drawn across the Atlantic.  This is what tall ships do.  They travel.  Juan Sebastian de Elcano and Cuauhtemoc are referred to as Buque Esquela, a school on a boat.  For centuries, navies from all countries trained their cadets while at sea.  The tradition continues as the practice is demonstrably followed.

No less than forty nine tall ships have registered with Great Britain’s Sail Training International to participate in this year’s summer stages in Northern European waters.  The night of the accident, Cuauhtemoc was en route to its next port of call, Le Havre, France, to compete in the first stage of the Tall Ships Race starting this July 4th.  Cuauhtemoc has earned many trophies for open water challenges.

Sail Training International started the tall ship venture in 1956.  Each year, new regatta courses are chosen by committee.  Le Havre has a unique history of its own as it has been home port to tall ships for more than five hundred years.  The Tall Ships Race starting gun sounds off Le Havre Harbor and tacks to Dunkirk in the first leg.  Second stage is Dunkirk to Aberdeen, Scotland.  Third is Aberdeen across the North Sea to Kristiansand, Norway.  The fourth stage is Kristiansand culminating in Esbjerg, Denmark.

Mission Statements

Alan James, the Tall Ships Race CEO has conducted countless interviews espousing core ideals that accompany competition.  In hopes of expanding relationships above and beyond land boundaries, all of the Tall Ship events have one thing in common.  A global desire to meet and complete.  These massive gems of the sea travel from almost every country on the planet that serve as training vessels for their navies to outmaneuver in  competition in open water races.  The crew serves as good will ambassadors bringing nations together.

Tall sail training ships travel a strenuous schedule to ports around the world.  This is what they are built for and the cadets of dozens of nations routinely circle the globe.

Common Projection Calendars

Between now and July 4th, 2026, the world will intently focus on the tall ship regattas and parades.  These maritime festivals draw crowds comparable to World Cup Futbol.  Military planning schedules these global tours years in advance and coordinate with other nations and hosting organizations.  Sail4th has painstakingly worked with the navies of countries to pull off the 2026 event in New York Harbor that may far exceed the audience of OpSail ’76.

It is an intricate web of logistics, but each nation arrives on time, usually.  It remains unclear if ARM Cuauhtemoc will be ready and able to return to New York Harbor for Sail4th as previously scheduled.  Mexico has a second ship currently under sail as cadets board the ARM Usumacinta now in service.

U.S. Sailing is America’s premiere sailing organization that schedules regattas.  Unfortunately, the United States will not be entering a ship in this year’s Tall Ship Race.  The USCGC Eagle of New London’s Coast Guard Academy is a veteran that frequented many Sail Training International events.  So too is the USS Niagara, when it last participated overseas in 2017.  Niagara’s home port is Erie, Pa.

Many newer vessels are framed as exact replicas from centuries past.  The older Niagara was the flagship of Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry during the War of 1812.  His naval battles against the British were conducted on the Great Lakes along the Canadian coastline.

Transponders, A Sport Unto Itself

Global positioning and vessel tracking services have created satellite technology that instantaneously pinpoints ship location to the inch.  Tall training ships are required to mount transponders as standard equipment.  Teams and enthusiasts alike can follow each ship online every second of the day.  Savvy participants can link this new technology as the  Transponders software will track the sail pack for every journey and every race position.  You will know as quickly as the judges using the exact programming.

NYHC will encapsulate highlights of the transponder activity during the Tall Ships Race keeping you posted of all notable ship activity during July and August.

Social Media Correspondence

Sending messages and chats to crew is the best way to communicate for families and even making new friends.  NYHC will make it possible to easily find the active accounts to join chats and follow the activity on the ships when permitted.  We will also be interactive using Zoom and other software to allow interested parties to discuss topics of interest in our lead up to the 2026 Sail4th festivities.

Who is Coming to New York Harbor’s Next Grand Tall Ship Party?

It is expected that USCGC Eagle will be the lead boat of Sail4th.  Eagle was also America’s lead boat for OpSail, so there is a special connection between the cadets and skippers from each generation.  As we move closer to final planning, the Sail4th July 3rd to July 9th, 2026 will be revealed.

NYHC hopes to see you there…. mark your calendars!