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Tall Ship Oliver Hazard Perry: More Than 12,000 People Tour RI's Official Sailing Education Vessel - OHP Able Seaman Carmine Russo (Clearwater, Fla.) with visitors Laila and Georgia Hekking (Newport).
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SSV Oliver Hazard Perry attracted over 12,000 visitors on the first weekend of the Volvo Ocean Race stopover
SSV Oliver Hazard Perry attracted over 12,000 visitors on the first weekend of the Volvo Ocean Race stopover
NEWPORT, RI (May 13, 2015) – Over the weekend of May 9 -10 and for three days thereafter, SSV Oliver Hazard Perry, the Ocean State’s Official Sailing Education Vessel, hosted more than 12,000 people for onboard tours at Newport’s Fort Adams State Park where only four days prior, Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo had declared the state’s new 240-foot long pier there officially “open” and the Tall Ship’s permanent home. The ribbon-cutting ceremony for the pier was part of the opening of the Volvo Ocean Race Village, built to accommodate a festive stopover for seven Volvo Ocean Race 60s making their way around the world in one of the most grueling sailing contests on the planet.
SSV Oliver Hazard Perry’s impressive silhouette includes a towering rig, the tallest part of which reaches 13 ˝ stories high; a total of 19 spars that have been turned from massive Douglas fir trees on the largest spar lathe in North America; seven miles of rope and wire that have been made integral to the ship’s operation by tradesmen trained in both modern and traditional rigging techniques; and 20 sails, both square and fore-and-aft that total 14,000 square feet. Below decks, she offers accommodations for 49 people on ocean voyages, a climate-controlled environment, a modern galley, science lab and a full array of electronic navigation and communication gear.
This was the first time the general public had been invited to tour the Tall Ship since 2013 when Oliver Hazard Perry Rhode Island, the non-profit organization behind her, hosted a Dedication Ceremony at Fort Adams during an earlier phase of construction. The ship is now nearly complete and will return to Hinckley Boatyard in Portsmouth, R.I. to continue her final phase of construction and US Coast Guard inspection and testing.
Photo : OHPRI
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