Tall ships set sail for Halifax

The tall ships are on their way!

The fleet left Savannah, Georgia this morning to start the race for the 2012 Tall Ships Challenge, which ends in Halifax on July 19.

The race will see the ships stop at ports along the eastern seaboard including Greenport, New York and Newport, Rhode Island as well as several Nova Scotia ports, before arriving in Halifax.

President and CEO of Waterfront Development Colin MacLean tells News 95.7 the ships are crewed by university and college age students.

“They often have educational missions and so they’re not just sail racers, they are learning the experiences at sea of leadership in a different capacity,” he explains.

MacLean says even though the ships are racing, it’s all timed so they have time to spend in ports along the way.

“At each one of the ports, they’ll also participate in a local event like the ones we’re used to in Nova Scotia,” says MacLean. “They get an opportunity to visit different spots on the Atlantic coast and allowing the cadets and educational experience which is broader than just the race itself.”

He says most of the ships are North American, and are connected to different not-for-profits.

“One of the ships that we’ll see in Nova Scotia this year is the ‘Unicorn’ and it’s entirely dedicated to the education of young women and women leadership,” says MacLean. “Another ship is the ‘Roseway’ and it’s part of The Ocean Foundation and so they do educational programs related to the health of our seas.”

Once the ships get to Halifax, the crew will be involved in ceremonies to commemorate the War of 1812.

“Primarily, there will be a lot of exploration of the history of Canada-American relations, the history of that war and some of the future pieces,” he says.

If you decide to head down to the harbour and take in the events, you might learn something from the crews too, because most of them are students with special areas of expertise from ocean health to the US Coast Guard.