Dar Młodzieży heads for the Sail250 finale, with a Hudson River parade ahead

The sail training ship of Gdynia Maritime University (UMG) has wrapped up the first American leg of its cruise: an appearance at Sail250 Virginia, the event that opens the series of celebrations marking the 250th anniversary of American independence. In Norfolk the frigate took her place among more than 60 vessels from 20 nations, while her trainees manned the yards and rails and joined a programme of diplomatic engagements attended by a Polish delegation. Now the most important moment of the whole campaign lies ahead.

The New York finale

The New York portion of the celebrations, Sail4th 250, runs from 3 to 8 July and will be the climax of the American semiquincentennial. At its heart is the International Parade of Sail, set for 4 July. Close to 50 large Class A tall ships will pass beneath the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge, salute the Statue of Liberty in a presidential review and sail up the Hudson River as far as the George Washington Bridge. Leading the column will be the US Coast Guard barque Eagle.

The scale of the event is unprecedented. Organisers expect some six million spectators along 15 miles of shoreline. The parade will be accompanied by an International Naval Review, only the seventh in US history, with more than 40 American and allied warships anchored on the Hudson, alongside an aerial review of more than 120 aircraft led by the Blue Angels. On the evening of 4 July the sky over Manhattan will light up with the 50th-anniversary edition of the Macy's Fourth of July fireworks.

The Polish ensign on the Hudson

For Dar Młodzieży the New York call also brings a changeover of trainees. On 3 July the third and final leg of the voyage begins: a fresh group of around 120 second-year cadets from UMG's Faculty of Navigation will come aboard for the passage to Boston. Commanded by Captain Michał Sadowski with a permanent crew of 33, the Gdynia frigate represents Class A in the parade, the largest sail training ships in the world, the longest of which exceed 100 metres.

The symbolism of the event reaches back half a century. This year's voyage deliberately echoes the cruise of Dar Pomorza, which in 1976, during the celebrations of the 200th anniversary of American independence, also sailed in a tall ships parade on the Hudson. Sail4th 250 is itself the organisational successor to Operation Sail, the format that brought great sailing ships to New York in 1976, 1986, 1992, 2000 and 2012, among other years. Dar Młodzieży sails today with an added touch: at her foremast she carries a sail bearing the logo of Gdynia's centenary.

What comes next

Once the New York celebrations conclude, the Class A ships will depart for Boston, opening a race for the historic Five Sisters Cup, a contest between sister ships built to a single design, among them the barques Eagle (United States), Sagres (Portugal), Mircea (Romania) and Gorch Fock (Germany). After Boston, Dar Młodzieży will begin her return passage to Europe by way of ports in the United Kingdom and Germany. She is due back in her home port of Gdynia on 24 August.

Sail250 is a consortium of five host ports: New Orleans, Norfolk, Baltimore, the Port of New York–New Jersey and Boston. For the Gdynia frigate, however, taking part in this series carries particular weight. It is likely to be the last long-distance voyage of this kind for Dar Młodzieży as UMG's principal sail training ship. The university has already received the first tranche of funding to build a successor, and the keel of the new vessel is due to be laid next year.