There are plans to bring the trimere Olympias to New York harbor in 2012 coincide with the Tall Ships “OpSail” and July 4th celebrations.
The Trireme Olympias Coming Soon to New York
The H.N. Olympias is a full-scale, working replica of the legendary 170-oared Athenian trireme of the 5th century B.C. The ship is the fastest human-powered vessel on the planet. New Yorkers will have a unique and exciting opportunity to watch as Olympias is rowed and sailed in our harbor. For people looking for a fitness challenge, we will be recruiting and training teams of 170 men and women to participate in sea-trials and other nautical events.
Olympias has left Greece only once, when it visited London in 1993, to help commemorate the 2,500th anniversary of democracy. The ship carried the Olympic flame prior to the 2004 Athens Summer Games.
We look forward to sharing this magnificent vessel, as well as great history of the Athenian maritime empire, with New Yorkers and visitors alike.
While Olympias is certainly an interesting design exercise, it is simply not true that she is “the fastest human-powered vessel on the planet.” In the 2004 Olympics, the winning 8-oared shell covered 2000 meters in slightly under 5:20, or approximately 319.8 sec. I make that 12.15-plus knots — numbers similar to what I developed when I did the research for a paper I wrote for the Journal of Nautical Archaeology in 1974. Compared to that, the 9 knots recorded by Olympias doesn’t make such a big impression, although it is certainly fast. Smaller, high-tech human powered craft driven by bicycle chains and propellers with hydrofoils holding them up have, I think, gone even faster than today’s racing shells but I don’t have those numbers readily available. Journalists tend to write before checking out their facts.
I am sorry to hear about Mr. Coates’s death. He and I corresponded while he was designing Olympias because he used my 1974 paper as a reference.
I caught that bit of hyperbole too, though as I was quoting from their website, I thought I would let it slide.
John Coates has an impressive career before he retired and then such fascinating and valuable things afterwards. You were fortunate to have known him if only through correspondence.
Pingback: A Celebration Of the Trireme at the Mariners’ Museum : Old Salt Blog – a virtual port of call for all those who love the sea