Philadelphia's own tall ship heads back into service

Some of sailing's charm is its unpredictability.

The wind dies, or blows too hard, or in the wrong direction. You surrender to nature and drop anchor, or tack, or change plans.

But a five-year diversion has been just too long for devotees of Philadelphia's resident tall ship, Gazela.

Hindered by a damaged rudder, the 175-foot square-rigger - built for high seas in 1883 - has confined its sailing adventures to the protected waters of the Delaware River and Chesapeake Bay.

On Sunday morning, however, the city's floating ambassador will hoist the sails on all three masts and, for the first time since 2005, leap into the waves of the blue Atlantic.

Just last month, after years of costly and frustrating delays, Gazela's professional shipwright, Patrick Flynn, installed a new, handmade rudder, 26 feet long and copper-clad.

"We're back in business," said Eric Lorgus, president of the nonprofit Philadelphia Ship Preservation Guild, which owns and operates the white-hulled barkentine. "I'm elated."

After turning north at Cape May, Gazela will steer for the historic whaling town of New Bedford, Mass., about 250 miles away. It is due to return Aug. 7 and depart a week later for New York Harbor.

In October it will head out again for an oyster festival on Long Island before returning home and closing up for winter.

Built of oak as a Portuguese cod-fishing vessel, it is one of the world's oldest continually sailed wooden square-riggers. With a deep, 16-foot draft, "she's really not designed for protected waters," said Lorgus, also president of a ship supply company.

But the Preservation Guild, whose 250 volunteer members sail and maintain it, had little choice after ship surveyors discovered rot in the rudder post late in 2004. The surveyors cautioned against any ocean voyages until a new rudder could be put in place.

Next year's sailing season is still being planned, but Lorgus hopes to see a few high-seas adventures like those of years past, when Gazela - Portuguese for gazelle - made way for such far-flung destinations as Maine, Quebec, and the Bahamas.

It carries no passengers on these trips. Its crews consist of Preservation Guild volunteers who earn the right to sail after donating 50 hours of maintenance.