Tall Ship Fever - Bay City Has It Bad
North America's Largest Tall Ship Are on the Bay City Horizon
August 7, 2003
By: O. J. Cunningham
The 240 ft. Barquentine vessel, The Caledonia will be sailing into Bay City for Tall Ship Celebration, August 14—18, 2003.
Bay City Bound - The Tarangini - Photographed on Muskegon Lake
Like a butterfly from a caterpillar, an unbelievable transformation will turn a 1947 trawler into Caledonia, North America's largest Tall Ship. The metamorphosis will be complete in time to see the 240 ft. Barquentine sailing into Bay City for Tall Ship Celebration, August 14—18, 2003.
The letter of intent ensuring the appearance of Caledonia at the second Tall Ship Celebration: Bay City maritime festival is one of many signs that things are picking up speed for event organizers. 2001 Port Sponsor, Hagen Ford, has agreed to lend its name to the event once again and The Bay City Times has also renewed its commitment as an Admiral-level sponsor. New to the major sponsor line-up for 2003 is Independent Bank as a Captain-level sponsor.
Event organizers are simultaneously recruiting major sponsors and tall ships. Caledonia will lead a fleet of as many as 20 tall ships visiting Bay City next summer. She was launched in 1947 under the name Akurey and registered in Reykjavik, Iceland. She traded as a steam trawler in Arctic waters for about a decade. In the 1960's, the ship was retrofitted in Trondheim, Norway for offshore oceanographic research. In the late 60's Akurey was sold to Techno Navigation in Quebec and renamed Petrel V.
She became a familiar fixture in Atlantic communities as she carried scientists and students on fisheries and biology research missions and in seismic research on the Grand Banks. One of her more noteworthy exploration voyages was a 1998 mission to the Titanic site carrying researchers and 21 reporters from NBC. When work is complete Spring 2003, Caledonia will sport a Barquentine rig and 17,000 square feet of sails.
The inaugural Tall Ship Celebration: Bay City event in July 2001 saw fourteen visiting tall ships, more than 350,000 people and earned the prestigious "Port of the Year" award from the American Sail Training Association. Each year ASTA organizes Tall Ships Challenge®, a series of tall ship races and rallies which rotate among the west coast, east coast and Great Lakes each year.
For more information about Tall Ship Celebration: Bay City, please contact Shirley Roberts at 989-893-1222 or visit the
Tall Ships websitefor periodic updates.For more info, click the Tall Ships'
Media Center for the latest info.