04/28/2000

Veteran Looks at OpSail2000

Tido Holtkamp, a cadet in the German Navy during World War II on Horst Wessel (now the Eagle), was a POW in U.S. and British camps. He later emigrated to the United States and served in the U.S. Army during the Korean War. Following his military service, he graduated from UConn in Liberal Arts and worked for IBM for 28 years. Now an independent consultant, he loves translating documents from English to German, writing articles and researching the German years of the Eagle (1936-1946). Tido's lifelong interest in ships prompted this article about the upcoming OpSail 2000 event, entering many East Coast ports of call from May through July.

Welcome to OpSail 2000!
By Tido Holtkamp

In 1961 President John F. Kennedy founded Operation Sail to support sail training and goodwill among nations. Through the years many "Tall Ship" events have followed. It looks like they will all be overshadowed by the newest event.

Billed as "The largest Tall Ship and Maritime Event in History," OpSail 2000 plans to attract millions of ship- and sea lovers from the US and from all over the world this summer. From May 25 to July 31 an international armada of more than 30 tall ships will visit ports from Puerto Rico to Maine. Here is their schedule:

OpSail Port Dates

San Juan May 25-29 Miami June 7-11 Norfolk June 16-20 Baltimore June 23-29

Philadelphia June 23-29 New York July 3-9 New London July 12-15 Portland July 28-31

As might be expected, the Main Event of the OpSail Events will be the 4th of July celebration in New York harbor. The new Amistad -- just completed in Mystic, Conn. -- will join the parade there.

Backed by the White House, Congress, the US Navy, and the US Coast Guard, OpSail 2000 as an organization runs under the Chairmanship of Charles A. Robertson, assisted by Walter Cronkite and a host of other celebrities. OpSail 2000 has enlisted the support of thousands of volunteers.

You can visit the OpSail 2000 website at www.opsail2000.org. The site is well organized and allows you to go to each OpSail Port and find out all the details you might want to know. You can also e-mail OpSail 2000 at info@opsail.org.

The U.S. Coast Guard Barque Eagle -- "America's Tall Ship" -- under the Command of Captain Ivan T. Luke Jr. will proudly lead all parade events. Eagle has served as the Sail Training Ship of the US Coast Guard since 1946, when Captain Gordon McGowan acquired her as a war reparation from defeated Germany and sailed her across the Atlantic with the help of German volunteers. The Eagle's website: www.cga.edu/eagle.

The German Navy had the ship built by Blohm & Voss in Hamburg and put her into service in June 1936 as the Sail Training Ship Horst Wessel (after a young storm trooper who was killed in 1930 and elevated to a hero of the Hitler movement). During the 1930's she sailed the Atlantic several times, and after the outbreak of the war, the Baltic Sea. In 1944 as a young German cadet I served on the Horst Wessel for 6 months and fell in love with the beautiful ship.

When I came to the United States after the war, I found my old love again at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in New London and managed to stay close to her all these years. I have sailed on her a number of times as a guest of the Coast Guard. I also serve as a docent at the Coast Guard Museum, and plan to volunteer my services during OpSail 2000.

You may wonder what happened to the City of the Tea Party and Paul Revere. Well, OpSail 2000 could not agree with Boston on a schedule. As a result, Boston will hold its own Sail Boston 2000 event from July 11-16. It will be a part of Tall Ships 2000, billed as the "Tall Ships Race of the Century," going from April to September and including the ports of Southampton, Cadiz, Genoa, Bermuda, Boston, Halifax, and Amsterdam. This race already counts over 60 vessels. See www.tallships2000.com for details.

Please send questions or comments to bbruno@snet.net.