HUDSON RIVER SLOOP CLEARWATER

Contents

The environmental organization

The sloop ''Clearwater''

See also

References

External links

The environmental organization

The 'Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, Inc.' is an organization based in Poughkeepsie, New York that seeks to protect the Hudson River through advocacy and public education. Founded by folk singer Pete Seeger in 1966, the organization is known for its sailing vessel, the sloop ''Clearwater'', and for its annual music festival, the Great Hudson River Revival.
In 1969, the Clearwater made her maiden voyage down the Hudson River to the South Street Seaport in New York City.
^[2] Folk musician Tom Winslow wrote a now-classic folk music song, ''Hey Looka Yonder (It's the Clearwater)'', in which the lyrics specifically mention the fundraising efforts for the sloop, and how "black and white" people got together for this program. ^{[3] [4] [5]}
Clearwater has gained national recognition for its activism starting in the 1970s to force a clean-up of PCB contamination of the Hudson River caused by industrial manufacturing by General Electric and other companies on the river's edge. Other specific Hudson watershed issues Clearwater is concerned with are development pressures in the southern half of the Hudson Valley, pesticide runoff, the Manhattan west side waterfront, Indian Point nuclear reactors, and New York/New Jersey Harbor dredge spoil disposal.
Clearwater's educational programs are intended to heighten public awareness of the Hudson River's unique ecosystem that blends freshwater streams from the Adirondack Mountains with the salt tides of the Atlantic Ocean around New York City.
One of the organization's biggest fundraiser is its annual music and environmental summer Clearwater Festival, officially known as the "Great Hudson River Revival," America’s oldest and largest annual festival of its kind. The event has hosted over 15,000 people on a weekend in June for more than three decades.

The sloop ''Clearwater''

Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, Inc. owns and operates the sloop ''Clearwater''.
The sloop ''Clearwater'' is a 107-foot wooden sailing vessel patterned after 1870s Hudson River sloops. With a gaff rig (large mainsail and small topsail), and wide shallow hull, these vessels were evolved to deal with the challenges of strong tides, shoal waters, and variable winds encountered on the Hudson River. Designed by Cy Hamlin and built by Harvey Gammage in East Boothbay, ME, ''Clearwater'' was launched in 1969. Built of traditional plank-on-frame wooden construction, the sloop is 75 feet in length on deck, 25 feet in beam and can hold up to 70 tons of cargo. The sloop rig consists of a single mast and fidded topmast which together rise to a height of 108 feet, a 65-foot long main boom and a 28-feet long bowsprit.[1]
In 2004, the sloop ''Clearwater'' was listed on the National Register of Historic Places for her significance to the environmental movement.
For the early part of each sailing season Clearwater Inc. regularly charters the schooner ''Mystic Whaler'', a privately owned passenger schooner, to present Clearwater's education program to more schools. ''Mystic Whaler'' is a traditionally rigged 110-foot schooner, built in 1967 as a tribute to the coastal trading schooners that plied New England's waters over a century ago.
Sailing mostly on the Hudson River between New York City and Albany, New York, these vessels are used primarily to offer environmental and biological education programs to school groups, touching on river biology, environmental protection of waterways and related topics. Both vessels also offer sails for Clearwater members and the general public, as well as private charters.
In addition to the professional crew, Clearwater offers opportunities for people to sail as volunteer crew for one week periods or as intern/apprentice for up to two months, to learn sailing, environmental education and assist with vessel maintenance.

See also

★ Clearwater Festival

★ Pete Seeger

★ Tom Winslow

References

1. National Register Information System
2. PBS Shop web site
3. Wirz Biograph Records web page
4. Seeger Sessions web site
5. Clearwater official web site Music page

External links

★ Clearwater

★ Sloop Clearwater

★ official web site Music page

★ Photos of both sailboats and information about public sailing excursions

★ Clearwater: Hudson River Rising Materials for Middle School Teachers