Dancing in the Park

Monday night, crew from Sagres, Picton Castle, AJ Meerwald, Kalmar Nyckel, Lynx and Hermione gathered at Mitchell Park for the crew party. Because Greenport is a small village (population 2,200) and the size of the crew was so large (almost 450), we struggled to find a place big enough to hold the crew party. Parking lot? Too impersonal. High school? Too far away. One of the organizers suggested that we incorporate the crew party into Greenport’s weekly outdoor music program, Dances in the Park. Brilliant.

So that night found the crew from the ships mingling with the locals, dancing along to some seriously funky music and, in the case of Sagres, distributing fresh baked cake.

Once the band took a break, Bert and I took to the stage to give out some awards for the participants in the race from Cape May, NJ to Montauk, NY. Four vessels started the race, Hermione, Sagres, Lettie G. Howard and Picton Castle, but only Picton and Sagres crossed the finish line (Hermione and Lettie had to drop out to head to New York City in time for the Fourth of July).

Special recognition was given to Hermione for starting the race. Picton Castle received Line Honors for being the first ship to cross the start line. In second place, on corrected time, was Picton Castle. First place belonged to the Portuguese and the proud crew of Sagres. In a delightful display of military coordination, when we announced that Sagres had come in first, the Executive Officer (who had been on the phone with the ship during the awards) had the ship sound it’s horn. The marina was soon filled with other ships blowing their horns and joining in in the celebration.

First Place – Sagres Photo by E. Braunstein

The entire evening was a true display of small town America and the kind of thing that Greenport is known for – generosity and hospitality, with a splash of funkiness.

For more photos from Greenport and our other TALL SHIPS CHALLENGE® Atlantic Coast 2015 ports so far, visit our Flickr page or visit our group page on Facebook. For more timely updates, join us on Twitter (@tallshipsfleet)