An Eagle-eye view

The Eagle has landed.

The U.S. Coast Guard tall ship made its grand entrance Thursday just in time for Charleston Harbor Fest 2009. The former Nazi vessel coasted in with a crew of more than 200 Coast Guard Academy cadets dressed from head to toe in navy blue uniforms.

Homeported in New London, Conn., the Eagle is a training vessel for cadets and officer candidates. It is one of 18 tall ships entering Charleston Harbor for four days of tours, sailing and dockside activities. They are participating the Tall Ships Atlantic Challenge, a series of trans-Atlantic regattas starting in Vigo, Spain, and ending in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Training officers are required to spend varying amounts of time on the ship where they learn the basics of Sailing 101. During summer training, the crew swaps out every five weeks, allowing as many cadets as possible to receive training.

The Eagle is no dinghy. The modern-day vessel resembles an old-fashioned pirate ship. The tall ship has three masts and is nearly 300 feet long.

Before its days under the command of clean-cut cadets, the ship was built for the German navy in 1936. The Horst Wessel, as it originally was named, was used to train World War II U-boat operators. The United States claimed it as a war reparation gift at the end of the war.

Onboard the Eagle, boa-constrictor-thick ropes shoot off in every direction. To the average onlooker, the complicated web of rigging looks impossible to operate. But not for the cadets. They are responsible for manning nearly five miles of ropes, and like the sailors of yore, they also can be seen clambering up the sails or perched at the top of the masts.

During regular task rotations, cadets learn every element of operating a tall ship. While some are manning the sails, others are cooking, cleaning, painting or navigating like the sailors of old.

Training onboard is a vacation away from the academy where cadets can toss aside their text books and actually "get to see the real part of the Coast Guard," sophomore Orlando Morel said. He, along with the other rookies that caught the ship in Bermuda, will spend the next six weeks of their summer learning the ins and outs of tall ship sailing.

Onboard the Eagle, education and safety are the main focus. The Coast Guard claims that the Eagle has possibly the strictest safety protocol of any ship in the world. It is important to operate with extreme caution, said Lt. Commander Matt J. Moorlag, since the majority of cadets onboard have minimal to no sailing experience. And instead of pen and paper tests, the challenge is a race on the open sea.

"We were playing the wind and the currents, but it's the same game sailors played 100 years ago," Captain J. Christopher Sinnett said.

During the regatta from Bermuda to Charleston, the first-time sailors barely had a chance to get their feet wet because the leg was cut short. Like many of the tall ships in the third leg, the Eagle was forced to retire. More than 100 miles out from the finish, the wind died and the crew was force to dropped sail and motor to the ending buoy outside of Charleston Harbor.

The ship arrived safely Wednesday evening and anchored off shore for the night. Thursday morning, the Maria Barge, a Coast Guard barge from Jacksonville, Fla., transported a group of patrons out to join the crew on the ship's trek to the harbor.

But winning isn't everything.

Academy senior Matt Malacaria hopes to sail past the competition on the next leg from Charleston to Boston. He said that the Romanian tall ship Mircea is probably the Eagle's biggest competitor.

With the new crew under way, "This next phase should be pretty smooth. We've got a good base now," senior cadet Rachel Dooglas said.

If all else fails, the ship will continue to achieve its main goal, "teaching the future of the Coast Guard," Sinnett said.

The Eagle will get a new captain Saturday. After serving a standard three-year tour on the ship, Sinnet will turn the Eagle over to Eric Jones, who is serving as the deputy chief of the Office of Congressional Affairs at the Coast Guard headquarters in Washington, D.C.

During Charleston Harbor Fest 2009, the Eagle and more than a dozen additional ships will be on display or open to the public for tours. The festival begins today and will run through Monday.

The Eagle will not be available to the public until after 3 p.m. Saturday following the change of command activities. The ship is docked at Union Pier Passenger Terminal.

To catch a glimpse of the Eagle in action, don't miss the Parade of Sail, Monday 4 to 6 p.m., when all the tall ships will exit the harbor and set for Boston.

For tickets and more information on Harbor Fest, including the ships and the schedule, go to charlestonmaritimefestival.com