Brooklyn is set to rule the waves, hosting more shps at this year's OpSail than the rest of the city combined.
Ports in Red Hook and Brooklyn Heights will receive 10 out of 17 ships that will sail at this year’s citywide OpSail event.
PortSide New York, an organization dedicated to waterfront events, is promoting a week of events put together by OpSail at the Red Hook port this year, including a viewing of the Ship Parade and a chance to walk inside the vessels.
Red Hook’s ports are better equipped to accept a large number of ships for the event because it is deeper than the ports along the Hudson River, and because it is still functioning, said Carolina Salguero, founder and director of PortSide New York.
“For Brooklynites, it’s really a point of pride,” said Salguero. “The ports at Hudson River Park are shallow, and they don’t have cleats.”
OpSail, a city-wide event, will take place from May 23 to 30.
The Brooklyn events will take place at the Red Hook Marine Terminal, a functioning port owned by Port Authority, near Pier 6.
The port will receive four tall ships, four foreign navy ships and two American Coast Guard cutters.
The week of events will be kicked-off with a Ship Parade on May 23. Parade-goers can see the ships docking in Red Hook from Pier 6 in Brooklyn Bridge Park, or at the Red Hook port harbor at 8 a.m.
The ships will cross under the Verrazano Bridge, sail past the Statue of Liberty and move up the Hudson. The rest of the parade, which will move up the Hudson to the George Washington Bridge, can be seen from Manhattan.
At around 1 p.m., the ships will begin docking in Brooklyn, which will take around an hour to complete. Some ships will be docking at Pier 6 at Brookln Bridge Park, and the rest will dock inside the Red Hook Marine Terminal, just south of Pier 6.
Open-house ship viewings will take place on Memorial Day weekend from May 26 to 28, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Guests can enter the terminal at Congress Street gate and Columbia Street. Participants may be asked for government-issued ID and will be required to go through a metal detector.
“Our mission is to bring blue space to life,” said Salguero. “We bring boats and people together.”
For more information, guides and maps of the event, visit www.portsidenewyork.org/OpSail2012.
