September 4, 2021
Here’s a fun way to spend a couple hours this holiday weekend: go sailing around NY harbor on a tall ship. The mighty Clipper City is a 158 foot gaff rigged schooner that you can climb aboard down at Pier 35 near Lower Manhattan’s Two Bridges neighborhood and Mussel Beach.
“With a length of 158 feet and masts rising 120 feet, she can comfortably sail 149 people, the most of any passenger sailboat in the United States. You will look up and see sails that are bigger than your house. Our masts reaching towards the sky, we just fit under Brooklyn Bridge by a few meters when the tide is just low enough! This large sailboat has waist-high railings and provides a big, open deck (100 feet x 30 feet) with benches, hatches and a raised quarter deck where the captain steers. During your journey, we’ll fly 5,000 feet of sail.” ~Manhattan By Sail.
Without really knowing what to expect, we set sail and soon passed directly beneath the Manhattan and then Brooklyn Bridges. Despite this weekend marking the unofficial end of Summer, the weather was gorgeous and warm today. Rounding the Financial District and Ferry terminals, we headed straight toward the Statue of Liberty We’ve seen it many times, of course, from the rail of a Staten Island ferry but this was the closest a ship had ever brought us to her. And by “us” we mean the around a hundred and something other “sailors” that joined us on the Clipper City for this mini voyage.
There’s a nice little bar onboard where you can buy a Margarita or a snack, a couple of shipshape bathrooms, and plenty of sails, masts, and big, fat ropes that really make you feel like an old salt for a little while. The crew is a good looking bunch of young people who really know their stuff. They could probably do everything themselves in half the time, but being good sports about it, they invited passengers to lend a hand. So the next thing you know you’re pulling on a rope with a dozen strangers and unfurling a ginormous sail on a mast that appears to reach the sky up above. It’s fun.
The Crew
We had a great time and felt like the cost (around $50) was a good value for this experience. Nearby is Pier 36 where the Gazette will be going next week to check out the Art on Paper show.
Captain Jess