Tall Ships

Baltimore is looking for a few tall ships -- but the competition is pretty fierce.Naval officials in Uruguay say they will send a tall ship here July 2. But in what may be an off year for the popular attractions, most of the world's stately tall ships will be setting sails for port cities competing with Baltimore.So far, Uruguay's Capitan Miranda is the only tall ship scheduled to visit Baltimore this year. Typically, from two to six tall ships have visited the Inner Harbor each year since their initial invitation in 1976.

Five tall ships and a government research vessel are slated to dock in at the Inner Harbor during visits late this month and in early May as part of the Volvo Ocean Race stopover in Baltimore, according to Sail Baltimore, a local nonprofit group that welcomes visiting ships. The vessels, along with the racing craft, are expected to draw as many as 500,000 visitors, said Laura Stevenson, executive director of Sail Baltimore. The organization was founded in 1975 and has hosted more than 400 visiting ships and 35 maritime events.

How tall is tall? How some of the tall ships size up against well-known Baltimore landmarks in the Inner Harbor Constellation -- Height -- 165 feet Esmeralda (Chilie) -- Four-masted barquentine Height -- 165 feet, Length -- 371 feet World Trade Center -- Height -- 423 feet National Aquarium -- Height -- 157 feet Gorch Fock II (Germany) -- Three-masted barque Height -- 140 feet, Length -- 293 feet National Aquarium Marine Mammal Pavilion -- Height -- 130 feet Pride of Baltimore II (USA)

Ask any local, and he or she will probably tell you that it's normal to see a bunch of boats floating at the Inner Harbor. But when the boats are so huge that they begin to compete with the skyline, then you know something's up. Starting Sunday, the waters of the downtown port will be teeming with a selection of the world's tallest sailing ships as the city gears up to celebrate Independence Day. The ships, ranging from the 170-foot Pride of Baltimore II...

IF YOU want a benchmark of where the west side is in terms of its development, think of the Inner Harbor before Harborplace opened in 1980, putting Baltimore on the cover of Time magazine. Or, better yet, before the Tall Ships sailed into town as part of the country's bicentennial celebration in 1976, drawing a million visitors to the waterfront. That, at least, is the view of Ron Kreitner, Mark Sissman and Mark Wasserman -- three key players on the west side who also played important roles in the Inner Harbor.

It's hard not to catch the fever when Baltimore's harbor fills up with sleek sails. In a few days, we'll be home to the Volvo Ocean Race, and I'm sure I'll be among those who will have a long look at our Patapsco and the Baltimore Waterfront Festival. Now, 30 years after a similar event, I'll divulge the details of my own personal festival the summer of 1976. In those days I was reporter at the old News American. Then, as now, I never left the city on newspaper assignments and only covered stories as far away as taxicabs or, more likely, a Maryland Transit Administration bus could take me. But that summer, as Baltimore's new and largely unbuilt-up Inner Harbor was showing signs of a terrific rebirth, Baltimore netted a big catch -- the tall ships Danmark, Amerigo Vespucci, Gorch Fock, Esmeralda and Eagle called here after appearing at a huge bicentennial celebration in New York's harbor.

When Baltimoreans board the Italian tall ship Amerigo Vespucci today, they'll walk sleek teak decks that stretch 333 feet from bowsprit to the captain's garden and crane their necks for a glimpse of the top of the pine mast.They'll step around thick curls of rope that, propelled only by the muscle of men, lift the ship's sails skyward.They'll see their reflections in brass fittings and marvel at the gilded arabesques adorning the hull.Visitors to the Vespucci, the oldest ship in the Italian navy whose namesake explored the "New World," will feel the romance of the high seas and experience the regal splendor of the 19th century frigates that inspired its design.

THE 1976 CAVALCADE of tall ships from the Seven Seas gave such a psychological boost to Baltimore that their return today fills the city with anticipation. A million visitors are expected to crowd the Inner Harbor to glimpse the majestic reminders of a bygone era. The ships' visit 24 years ago is still vivid in the minds of many Baltimoreans and visitors, who got a sneak preview of coming attractions in downtown revival at the bicentennial event. The Inner Harbor, in particular, received rave reviews.

When local organizers of OpSail 2000 learned last fall that an Italian ship, the Amerigo Vespucci, planned to bypass Baltimore during this week's festival of tall ships, they knew they had to reverse that decision. As president of Sail Baltimore, the group coordinating the arrival of more than 30 ships in and around the Inner Harbor starting Wednesday, William R. MacIntosh couldn't bear to have one of the largest, most elegant and most coveted tall ships in the world skip Baltimore by sailing directly from Norfolk, Va., to Philadelphia.

It will look like the British invasion of 1814 all over again. But the armada of tall ships sailing into Baltimore this summer will be larger. And their cannons will remain silent in deference to the two-toed sloths napping in the National Aquarium. A million tourists and more than 10,000 small boats are expected to crowd Baltimore's waterfront June 21-29 to watch 27 tall ships from around the world take part in the largest sailing festival in the city's history. Ships from Indonesia, Denmark, Colombia, Germany, Ireland and 12 other countries will anchor in the Inner Harbor, Fells Point, Canton and Locust Point for eight days as part of a tour of seven East Coast ports, organizers of the Operation Sail 2000 event will announce today.