Festival of Sails
By Fausto Palafox
The skyline of San Diego was graced with many vessels over Labor Day Weekend, including a replica of the San Salvador.
The Port of San Diego’s Festival of Sails got underway at San Diego’s Embarcadero this past September. Many vessels were included in the day’s activities, including the Maritime Museum’s new addition to its collection of vintage vessels, a full-sized functional replica of the Spanish galleon, the San Salvador. It is described as the embodiment of California’s origin.
It took its maiden voyage leading a parade of fourteen vintage and tall ships into the bay, many private boats joined in the parade blanketing San Diego Bay with a sea of sails. The parade began at the channel at the entrance of San Diego Bay, to Shelter Island and Harbor Island continuing towards the USS Midway and made its way to the Coronado Bay Bridge, maintaining an inbound heading along the right side of the channel passing close to Coronado Island. It was an impressive sight.
The present day San Salvador was built at Spanish Landing in San Diego between 2011 and 2015 by the Maritime Museum of San Diego and its legion of approximately 500 volunteers. The vast majority of funds spent during construction were contributed by donors. The Port of San Diego offered use of Spanish Landing Park, allowing thousands of spectators to witness the ship’s construction progress.
Category: Events, Local News
