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Buffalo Maritime Festival sails into Canalside

by jmaloni

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Thu, Sep 12th 2013 07:00 am

Free admission and three full days of events and activities kicks off with arrival of Lynx and Peacemaker tall ships

Erie Canal Harbor Development Corp. invites the public to celebrate Buffalo's rich nautical history at the inaugural Buffalo Maritime Festival at Canalside. The festival begins today at 4:30 p.m. with the arrival of two majestic tall ships, the Lynx and Peacemaker, which will serve as centerpieces to three full days of events and activities that run through Sunday, Sept. 15. Highlights include tours and hands-on demonstrations on the tall ships, as well as rowboat rentals, music, walking tours, family activities, a movie night, food trucks, a beer garden presented by the Liberty Hound, fireworks and much more.

"We welcome the Lynx and Peacemaker to Canalside this weekend and invite the public to experience first-hand the maritime history and culture Canalside has to offer, tour the two tall ships - for both the educational and entertainment value - and take part in the events surrounding this popular festival," said Erie Canal Harbor Development Corp. Chairman Robert Gioia. "Building off Gov. Cuomo's exciting announcement last week regarding the transfer of Outer Harbor land to Erie Canal Harbor Development Corp. and State Parks, the Buffalo Maritime Festival is sure to draw thousands to Canalside, and we couldn't think of a better way to bring the summer season to close along Buffalo's beautiful waterfront."

There is no general admission fee to the Buffalo Maritime Festival and most activities are free to the public, including kids' activities, tours and music. A free screening of "The Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl" will take place at 8:30 p.m. Friday and a fireworks show will take place at 8:30 p.m. Saturday.

Public tours aboard the Lynx and Peacemaker are free for children ages 12 and under with adult admission set at $6 to $4 respectively. The Lynx will feature morning and evening public sailaways, tickets are $65 for adults and $35 for children and can be purchased at http://privateerlynx.com/calendar.

On Saturday only, a free parking shuttle will be available from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. to shuttle visitors from the First Niagara Center lots at Perry and Baltimore streets to Canalside and back. For more information on the festival, including the schedule of events, directions and parking information for Canalside, visit www.buffalomaritimefestival.com.

Peacemaker is an American barquentine owned by the Twelve Tribes. The Peacemaker, originally named Avany, was built on a riverbank in southern Brazil using traditional methods and tropical hardwoods, and was launched in 1989. In the summer of 2000, it was purchased by the Twelve Tribes, a religious group with 50 or so communities in North and South America, Europe and Australia. They spent the next seven years replacing all of the ship's mechanical and electrical systems and rigging it as a barquentine. The refit vessel set sail for the first time in the spring of 2007, under the name Peacemaker.

The Peacemaker has a large deckhouse and spacious cabins finished in mahogany, modeled after the interior of the Cutty Sark. It also has an innovative transom that can be lowered while in port to reveal a watertight bulkhead with two large doors opening into a cargo area and fully equipped workshop.

For more information on Peacemaker, visit http://www.peacemakermarine.com/.

Lynx is a square topsail schooner based in Newport Beach, Calif. She is an interpretation of an American letter of marque vessel of the same name from 1812. The original Lynx completed one voyage, running the Royal Navy blockade; the British captured her in 1813 at the start of her second voyage and took her into service as HMS Mosquidobit.

The replica of Lynx sailing today was designed by Melbourne Smith International Historical Watercraft Society, based on historical data, and built by Taylor Allen and Eric Sewell of Rockport Marine at Rockport, Maine. She was launched on July 28, 2001, at Rockport, making her a new addition to the tall ship community. Her port of registry is Portsmouth, N.H. Today, instead of fighting the British like her original counterpart, she serves as a sailing classroom.

For more information on Lynx, visit http://www.privateerlynx.com/.

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