Hudson River Sloop Clearwater - The Sloop Clearwater

The Sloop Clearwater

Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, Inc. owns and operates the sloop Clearwater, the centerpiece of Clearwater’s public education programs. Clearwater serves as a movable classroom, laboratory, stage, and forum.

The Clearwater is a 106-foot (32 m) wooden sailing vessel designed after 18th and 19th century Dutch sailing sloops. With a large gaff rig, a hinged centerboard, and wide shallow hull, these vessels evolved to deal with the challenges of strong tides, shallow waters, and variable winds encountered on the Hudson River. Designed by Cy Hamlin and built by The Harvey Gamage Shipyard in South Bristol, Maine, Clearwater was launched in 1969. Built of traditional plank-on-frame wooden construction, the sloop is 75 feet (23 m) in length on deck, 25 feet (7.6 m) 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 (33 m). A 65-foot (20 m) long main boom and 45-foot (14 m) gaff carry a 3,000-square-foot (280 m2) mainsail. A 28-foot (8.5 m) long bowsprit carries a 900-square-foot (84 m2) jib on the foredeck. In light wind, a 450-square-foot (42 m2) topsail may also be raised.

In 2004, the sloop Clearwater was listed on the National Register of Historic Places for her significance to the environmental movement. The Clearwater has a smaller sister ship, the Sloop Woody Guthrie, that is used in education about the river.

In 2012, Pete Seeger and Lorre Wyatt released the music video and single "God's Counting on Me, God's Counting on You", which they recorded and filmed on the "Clearwater" while sailing on the Hudson in 2010. The song references the Gulf oil spill of 2010.