Get your sails up, Checkered Flag fans. There's a long list of Hampton Roads events happening over the next few months, but, one is the fairest of them all.
By Aaron Applegate
Article and Image Source: [The Virginian-Pilot]
May 14, 2012
Towering sailboats from Brazil, Indonesia, Colombia and Spain will soon sail into Norfolk and crowd docks from Harbor Park to West Ghent. Navy vessels from Denmark, Germany, Peru and Norway, and lots of ships from closer to home will join them.
The 5,000 sailors who crew the vessels will mingle with an estimated 1.5 million to 2 million tourists, locals, dignitaries, and historical re-enactors to celebrate Hampton Road's maritime heritage at the summer's biggest party, OpSail 2012. It runs June 1-12. Norfolk will be the center of attention, but other communities around Hampton Roads and the Chesapeake Bay are putting on shows, from Yorktown to Onancock.
Virginia is the third and longest stop on the six-port OpSail tour.
At the Oceanfront, the Navy's flight demonstration team, the Blue Angels, will scream over the Atlantic Ocean for the first time in decades on June 1-3. Crews of some foreign ships are expected to field teams for the annual sand soccer tournament June 8-10.
Portsmouth will host three tall ships and a Coast Guard cutter.
History buffs will soak up celebrations of the bicentennial of the War of 1812, from which the country's modern Navy emerged.
The waterfront around Norfolk's Freemason Harbor will be transformed into a live historical theater, with a cast of actors in period clothing recreating life 200 years ago. A 99-foot-tall Ferris wheel will be erected in West Ghent; the masts of one of the tallest tall ships - the Coast Guard barque Eagle - will eclipse it by almost 50 feet.
Security for OpSail will be tight - on par with a Super Bowl, a papal visit or the Olympics, organizers say.
The Navy, Coast Guard and Marines will participate in the festivities, and they will join hundreds of Norfolk police officers and FBI agents watching over the party.
And of course, there will be fireworks - three barges' worth, one more than the typical Norfolk show over the Elizabeth River - on June 9.
The 12-day festival will cost about $6 million, said Karen Scherberger, chief executive officer of Norfolk Festevents, the group organizing OpSail.
Half of that comes from about $2 million in corporate sponsorships and a $1 million state marketing grant. Norfolk is spending $550,000, which includes marketing, a four-day citywide shuttle system and hiring off-duty police officers, a city spokeswoman said.
The rest is in-kind contributions from the local maritime community - which is building temporary docks and offering barge, pilot and tug boat services - and participating federal agencies, including the Navy, Coast Guard and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The Norfolk Police Department will have more than 100 officers on the streets at peak times, said Lt. Shaun Squyres. He said he's hoping the city's light-rail system, The Tide, will help decrease traffic congestion and make law enforcement easier.
Organizers aren't expecting intense crowds because OpSail is spread out. For example, people will gather on the shore of the Chesapeake Bay near the Lynnhaven River to watch tall sailing ships get under way for the Parade of Sail on June 8.
The last OpSail, in 2000, drew more than 1.6 million people to locations throughout Hampton Roads.
"How many will we see in downtown Norfolk?" Scherberger said. "My guess is we'll see 500,000 over the 12 days. At any time is it going to be shoulder-to-shoulder packed? It didn't happen in 2000. We didn't have a bone-crushing crowd. It was very comfortable and easy to get along."
Navy and Coast Guard officials said the event is a chance to celebrate the services' heritage.
The Coast Guard's "revenue cutters" were the nation's first armed ships commissioned by the young federal government in 1790 to enforce tariff and trade laws and battle smuggling. The Navy was established eight years later in 1798.
The War of 1812 pitted the fledgling nation's sailors against Great Britain's world-domineering navy. The conflict was critical to the development of the U.S. Navy, said Adm. John Harvey, the head of Fleet Forces Command in Norfolk, at a conference earlier this year. "The traditions upon which we base how we operate as a Navy today came to us from the actions throughout the War of 1812."
For many people, OpSail's traditional sailing ships will be the big attraction.
"There's a magic and romance about these tall ships that has really grown over the years," said Rob Robins, senior vice president of Bay Diesel & Generator and a Festevents board member. "They bring a sense of awe, inspiration and excitement."
End of article.
Keep tuned in to Checkeredflag.com for more exciting upcoming local events and Opsail calendar.
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