Tall Ships Commemorate September 11th
8:30 AM September 11, 2002
Big Corona Beach
Orange County
A number of tall ships participating
in the TALL SHIPS CHALLENGE® 2002 will pause enroute from Los Angeles
to San Diego for a ceremony in honor of those who lost their lives on September
11, 2001. The event will take place at Big Corona Beach near Newport Harbor.
Private vessels are welcome to join the ships and are asked to arrive at
the site with sails down as a show of respect.
The ceremony will begin on
shore at 8:30 AM with an invocation by Orange County Sheriff's Department
Chaplain Kathleen Rutland. The Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Color Guard will
post the colors, followed by comments from Orange County Supervisor Jim Silva
and Newport Beach Mayor Todd Ridgeway. Bagpipers from the Newport Beach Fire
Department will perform "Amazing Grace."
At 8:46 AM the Lynx
will lay the first of three wreaths in the water from her anchorage just
offshore. Families of September 11th victims will lay the first wreath, timed
to correspond with the first aircraft that struck the World Trade Center
in New York one year ago. Additional wreaths will be placed in the water
by the Newport Beach Fire Department and Daughters of the American Revolution.
Fireboats will salute each wreath with a spray of water.
A 30 foot black banner will
be brought to the site by the Europa. The banner has been carried
down the coast from Richmond, British Columbia... the start of this year's
Tall Ships Challenge. Thousands of residents and crew members from the participating
ships have signed the banner as a show of support for the United States in
honor of September 11th. The banner will be taken to New York later this
week to be a part of the September 14th "Sail for America" tribute
in New York harbor.
At the end of the ceremony,
the Orange County Sheriffs Department Bugle Corps will play "God Bless
America" as all sails on all ships are raised and unfurled in a symbolic
tribute to American strength and resolve following the attacks. The vessels
will then continue to San Diego for that city's Festival of Sail.
All are welcome to attend.
