2011 Sailing Schedule
2011 Sailing Schedule Version 3-24-11
We have a schedule that we can publish for everyone!!! The day sails are pretty much locked in so you can sign up for those whenever you would like. The only changes that may be made would be in the ports we are going to this summer and I will make sure that the schedule is updated as soon as I know there is a change. Please let me know if there is any problems with viewing the schedule. I believe you will have to rotate it once you open the pdf to view it in landscape. If you have any questions send me a message or comment on the blog. Let’s go Sailing!!!
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 7 so far )Spring is Here! Due to Fair Weather Forecast, Niagara Crew to Uncover the Ship Early!
In an annual effort to prepare the Flagship Niagara for the summer sailing season, the ship’s volunteer crew will don their work clothes this Friday and Saturday, March 19th and 20th to remove the ship’s winter cover. Originally scheduled for removal on Saturday, March 27th, the project has been moved earlier due to the weather forecast for the next ten days.
Made of steel posts, wooden beams, and traditional canvas, the ship’s winter cover is designed to protect the ship during strong winter gales and heavy ice and snow. The volunteer and professional crewmembers will begin removing canvas at 11am on Friday, March 19, and will remove the cover’s framing on Saturday.
“This Saturday marks the beginning of the 20th sailing season for the Flagship Niagara, and we intend to celebrate it by sailing more, taking more people out on the water, and delivering our educational cargo to more people this year than ever before” said Capt. Wesley Heerssen. “To do this, we need to get the ship prepared for sailing earlier than ever before. This was an El Nino winter…shorter and milder than usual, and we intend to take advantage of the early spring. We’re going to uncover the ship this weekend with volunteers, then get the ship cleaned up for the seasonal crew to move onboard when they arrive in Erie next weekend. With any luck, we’ll only see a couple inches of wet snow in late March, which we’ll have to plod our way through, and then we’ll rig up the ship in time for sailing on April 29th.”
“The public are, as always, invited to volunteer as ship’s crew, and it’s never too late to get started. This Saturday, new and prospective volunteers are asked to show up at the rear entrance to the Erie Maritime Museum, directly at the dock, alongside the ship, at 9am. New volunteers should ask for the Chief Mate, Billy Sabatini, and he’ll get them signed up and started” said Capt. Heerssen.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )New Sailing Program for Niagara
Here is the press release for our latest program that has been developed.
College Consortium Press Release
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )2010 Sailing Schedule
Here is the latest Sailing Schedule. We are leaving for the college consortium earlier than in the last schedule.
2010 Sailing Schedule Version 3-2-10
I have also changed the schedule in the previous posts as well.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 7 so far )2010 Sailing Schedule
As promised there has been some changes to the schedule and here they are.
2010 Sailing Schedule Version 3-2-10
I have also changed the schedule in the previous posts as well.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 3 so far )2010 Sailing Schedule
2010 Sailing Schedule Version 3-2-10
So the schedule has been put together as best we can this far in advance. We wanted to get this out there as soon as possible so people start making plans now. There is always a chance that the schedule will change and we will contact anyone who is affected by the change if you have signed up for a particular passage. As soon as we have determined what the TBD(To Be Determined) sections will be I will update the schedule with a new post.
I encourage all of you to sign up to be a trainee for passages soon. This is a big season for us with many great passages to make and thousands of miles to sail on all 5 Great Lakes. We are also going to be a part of the Tall Ships Challenge Race Series with ASTA racing against many other tall ships. With ports stops of Duluth, Chicago, Cleveland, Toronto, Green Bay and Put in Bay it’s sure to be a fun summer and quite the adventure. Trainees will start joining the ship once we start uprig and will leave once downrig is complete. Let’s fill the ship this summer!
Who wants to go sailing?
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 11 so far )An End and a Beginning
Today marks the end of the 2009 sailing season. We will be down to only a couple seasonal crew left to help with maintenance. The galley will stop operations and the crew will start living semi normal lives again. We have sailed more days this summer than any other summer here in the Lakes. In 84 days at sea we sailed 2673 nautical miles. That is a lot of sailing for not doing a large voyage.
I am very pleased with how the crew how done this season dealing uncertainties the entire time but still holding true to taking care of the ship, their shipmates and when they had time themselves too. It has been an honor to sail with this crew and I can only hope that the 2010 crew will work as well together.
Tomorrow marks the beginning of Winter Maintenance. I know it’s not winter yet but it will be soon enough. As usual there is a big maintenance project going on. We will be replace at least one of our Main channels. I will post about that project as it happens. In the Rig Shop out goal is to get through all the pallets of rigging this year and we can use all the help we can get so anyone interested in volunteering come on down.
We made through this season and with everyone’s continued support we will hopefully be able to make through 2010 as well.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 1 so far )The 2009 Sailing Schedule For Niagara is Published!
In 2009, the US Brig Niagara will be sailing out of her home port in Erie, Pennsylvania on several voyages to exciting destinations on the Great Lakes! We will also be flying the flag at home quite a bit in 2009, so the summer schedule promises to display the ship and interpret her history to as many people as possible, and to draw crowds to Erie as well as in other ports.
2009-sailing-schedule-and-event-calendar-version-03-13-092
In 2008, the daysail program proved to be overwhelmingly popular. Therefore, in 2009 we are increasing the number of daysails available to the public to 26 daysails in Erie, PA.
In 2009, The Niagara Daysail Program will be available on Friday evenings, Saturday evenings, and Sundays during the day. While the days are longest in June and July, the ship’s daysail schedule allows slightly later evening sails in June and July than in August and September. Be sure to review the schedule carefully to be certain of daysail dates and times when registering for a daysail or planning a visit to tour the ship and museum.
Student registration in the 2009 Daysail Program (Saturday and Sunday daysails only) will begin on Monday, November 17, 2008 for Flagship Niagara League members only. Daysail registration for the general public begins on December 17th. FNL Members are given the benefit of early opportunity to register for the daysail program. If you’d like to become a member of the Flagship Niagara League, you can find out how on our website at www.brigniagara.org
The Flagship Niagara League and Erie Maritime Museum are proud to announce a new Corporate Team Building Program designed to improve inter-office camaraderie, communications, and teamwork. This exciting new program was systematicly designed through the implementation of several pilot programs offered over the last two sailing seasons. All nine Friday evening daysails are currently reserved for corporate use until promotion of this new program is fully implemented. For questions about this new program, please contact Capt. Wesley Heerssen, (814) 452-2744, x218. We anticipate beginning to accept public registration for specific Friday evening daysails (not booked for corporate use) after February 12, 2009.
The passages next summer are what the crew thrive on. Trainees in the live-aboard Seamanship Training Program are sure to get a thrill out of the scheduled passages between Erie and other Great Lakes ports! If you’ve never sailed throughout the night, steering and holding the ship to her course by little more than the binnacle light and moonlight… or if you’ve never climbed aloft to make sail changes during the mid-watch…then my friends, you haven’t lived! It’s an empowering experience you’ll never forget.
This summer we will be making a passage to Montreal. This will be the first time in 9 years for Niagara to be in Montreal. We will have the opportunity to transit the Thousand Island Region as well as the St. Lawrence Seaway. We will also be adding a stop in Oswego, NY on our way back from Montreal before stopping in Port Colbourne, ON for Canal Days.
We’ll also be making two visits to historic Put-In-Bay, OH, in the islands at the West end of Lake Erie, where Niagara’s famous Battle of Lake Erie occurred. Put-In-Bay is much more than the party island most folks from the Great Lakes region hear about. Between the parks, the historic homes & buildings, the vineyards, the beaches, the caves & more, there is no shortage of things to do in Put-In-Bay. Moreover, it is a place held dear in the hearts of everyone who’s ever sailed onboard Niagara. Put-In-Bay is the ship’s home away from home and the two trips there will each offer a most unique perspective of Niagara and Put-In-Bay’s common history.
I’ll post more details about these fantastic ports later, but for now I’ll offer this… While in Put-In-Bay we are planning on conducting several daysails. At this time we are still working on the plan for implementing the daysails, registration process, etc… So stay tuned to the Ship’s Log for details on how to sign up to sail onboard while we’re in Put-In-Bay.
In August, the ship will be sailing to Port Colbourne, Ontario at the southwestern end of the Wellend Canal to help celebrate their annual Canal Days festival. Port Colbourne is a beautiful town at the downstream end of Lake Erie, about 75 miles upstream of Lake Ontario. Ships can go from Lake Erie into Lake Ontario by either of two means…via the Welland Canal or over the famous Niagara Falls. Personally, I prefer the former. It’s likely to be an exciting August passage, involving numerous sail changes dodging summer squalls to stay in the calmer waters. The ship will probably pass in view of Long Point lighthouse on our way between the ports of Erie and Port Colbourne. This passage will be particularly meaningful for anyone who lives in Erie, Buffalo, or Port Colbourne because the three communities share present as well as historical ties across the Niagara penninsula.
Trainees are free to sign up now for any length of time between two and four weeks. We generally do not accept trainees for less than two weeks, and after four weeks, trainees are typically ready for the Apprenticeship Program. So if you want to join the big rigs, and sail on one of America’s last fully operational square-riggers, get planning now!
The 2009 summer sailing season is approaching fast, so if you want to sail on Niagara, choose the program that best fits you, your friends, or your company, and start planning now! Contact Julie Wagner at the Flagship Niagara League office as soon as possible to plan next summer’s adventure before the ship is fully booked! Julie can be reached by phone at (814) 452-2744, x221 or by email at c-juwagner@state.pa.us
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Billy Sabatini
wheerssen
