Schooner Festival delivers majestic sights at sea

GLOUCESTER – The sight of 21 schooners under full sail racing across the sea off Gloucester Harbor is rare, but thousands of spectators got to witness the spectacle over the Labor Day weekend.The 24th annual Gloucester Schooner Festival, highlighted by the Mayor’s Race on Sunday, is considered a major maritime event that attracts sailing vessels from Nova Scotia to New York.The boats range from 19 to 125 feet in length. Among the race fleet are Gloucester’s Thomas E. Lannon, Rockport’s Appledore III, Salem’s Fame, the 115-year-old Lettie G. Howard and the American Eagle from Rockland, Maine.The yachting press and local dignitaries, including Gloucester Mayor Carolyn Kirk, Cape Ann Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Michael Costello and Chamber President Steve Kaity were aboard Tom Hovey’s restored Huckins motoryacht, Tidewater. They got an up-close view of the action as the schooners rounded the marks.In the Mayor’s Race, first across the finish line is the winner, unlike some races that take into account a boat’s length, weight and sail configuration, all of which can then be calculated to determine the winner based on these adjustments.The race fleet also included Gloucester’s Adventure; Alabama from Vineyard Haven; Bald Eagle from Gloucester; Bluenose II from Lunenberg, Nova Scotia; Liberty Clipper from Boston; Westward from Boothbay Harbor, Maine; Sugar Babe from Gloucester; Roseway from Boston; Maine from Gloucester; Hearts Desire from Boston; Lewis H. Story from Essex, Estrela from Prudence, R.I.; Airlie from Newport, R.I.; Green Dragon from Manchester-by-the-Sea; Virginia from Norfolk, Va.; and Renegade from Branford, Conn.Virginia was the winner of the Esperanto Cup in the Large Schooner class, with an elapsed time of 1:29:50 (one hour, 29 minutes and 50 seconds).Thomas E. Lannon won the Cameron Trophy in the Small Schooners class with a time of 1:41:15.Talisman took home the Ramsey Trophy in the Little Schooners class with a time of 1:45:00.The competing vessels were divided into 10 classes. The other seven classes that raced on Saturday included traditional gaff-rigged, traditional Marcon-rigged, Friendship Sloops, PHRF Fleet; Rhodes 19, Multi-hulls, and 210s.