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A replica of the schooner America, which will dock in Greenport in June. (Credit: Courtesy americascup.com)

Another large ship appears bound for Greenport.

A replica of a 139-foot famed ship that helped launch the tradition of the America’s Cup will dock in Greenport from June 8-10, said Lynn Summers, the educational director and secretary for the East End Seaport and Maritime Foundation in Greenport. The yacht, named America, is a replica of the schooner that won the first America’s Cup yacht race in 1851. The race become known as the America’s Cup following that shooner’s victory. 

The three days the ship will be here are weekdays, running from Wednesday to Friday.

That time frame also is before schools let out for the summer, and the yacht will provide educational opportunities and tours of the boat for local school children, Ms. Summers said.

“They provide a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) program, which is very important, for children from the ages 13 to 18,” she said at Thursday’s Greenport Village Board meeting.

Topics included in that program could include advanced hydrodynamics, advanced aerodynamics, composite construction, and applied physics, according to the America’s Cup website.

The boat can also handle 75 people at a time for tours of the yacht, Ms. Summers said. The crew and its captain also will be giving free lectures on the history of the ship at the Seaport Museum, she said.

“What we’d like to know is, are you willing to waive their dockage fees because it’s educational, or should we start collecting door-to-door?” Ms. Summers asked the board.

Mayor George Hubbard Jr. did a quick poll of the board and there was no objection. Trustee Mary Bess Phillips was absent.

At $4 per foot, per day, officials said the amount of the docking fee for the three days would be $1,668.

“We’re not displacing anybody on the dock because nobody is going to be there at that time,” Mr. Hubbard said. “And If there are, they could use the other side of the dock.”

The America would dock on the east side of the railroad dock’s east pier, Ms. Summers said.

The boat, which is doing a North American Tour of East Coast locations in 2016, after having done the Pacific Coast last year, would be leaving on Friday afternoon, June 10, and would be docked the two nights prior to that, according to Arlene Klein, the Foundation’s vice-chair.

Mr. Hubbard said the board will vote on a resolution at its next meeting to officially waive the docking fees.

The ship’s arrival comes on the heels of last year’s Tall Ships of America event, which attracted tens of thousands of visitors to Greenport. In February, Tall Ships America recognized Greenport with its Port of the Year Award for 2015.

The North Fork has its own link to the America’s Cup. Larry Suter of Mattituck, who may be the most accomplished sailor the area has produced, was 22 years old when he sailed on Intrepid in the America’s Cup against Australian boat Gretel II off Northport, R.I. in 1970.

The next America’s Cup race is in 2017.

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