The Niña arrives in Petaluma

A full-sized replica of the Niña, a ship that made three voyages with Christopher Columbus to the New World, sailed slowly up the Petaluma River Thursday, greeted by people on the banks and in the turning basin.

“It looks like a pirate ship,” said Nicholas Trave, 5, of Petaluma, who likes pirates so much, he said he had a pirate-themed birthday party.

The black-hulled vessel drew comments from spectators, who waved, and stopped traffic at D Street, where the bridge was raised and the square-rigged ship squeezed through.

The Niña docked at the Turning Basin, where it will be open for public tours until Wednesday, when it is scheduled to depart.

“I love it,” said Wendy Dadalt of Petaluma. “It’s very cool. My husband has a rum business, Jolly Roger Rum, so I had to come down to see this.”

The replica was hand-made in Valenca, Brazil, with Brazilian hardwoods using tools and techniques from 500 years ago. Ever since its completion in 1991, it has sailed the world just as its namesake did.

Shortly after launch, it appeared in the movie “1492,” and has now sailed up both the West and East coasts, through the Panama Canal several times, sailed around Cuba and the British Virgin Islands, as Columbus did, and even into the Great Lakes.

The experience and the feeling of sailing it is much the same as Columbus would have felt, said Doc Kaiser, 51, of Green Bay, Wisc., the ship’s first mate and manager, who has sailed on the Niña for 10 years.

“When you are in the open water, you hear no engine, you see no land, you have the noise of the wind ... that brings you back,” Kaiser said.

The Petaluma trip also brings attention to the river, which Mayor Pam Torliatt said was so important in Petaluma’s past and its future.

“We have an important commercial component to the river, Jerico Products, we have Shamrock Materials and Dutra Materials, there is a lot of recreation, the Friends of the Petaluma River, there are 171 acres of marshland as part of our sewage treatment,” said Torliatt, who came aboard the Niña at the Petaluma Marina and sailed to the Turning Basin.

There are no drawings of the original Niña, but this ship was built based on written descriptions and after two years of research and is considered historically correct.

It is 93 feet long with a seven-foot draft, and the only concessions to the modern world are an engine. There is no hot water, no refrigerator and no showers, but there is a propane stove and heads.

“It’s like camping in a log cabin on water,” Kaiser said.

Still, life is better for the crew of six today than it was in Columbus’ time.

“We eat better. The food back then was salted meats, pickled fish, hard-tack biscuits, and one hot meal, at 11. The average age was between 14 and 19. You were a man at 14 and lucky to live to 15,” Kaiser said.

The Niña was also nimble and sailed well, and was Columbus’ favorite ship, making three of the four crossings from Spain to America and later serving as a trading vessel before fading from sight.

“It was built for the Trade Winds, with the wind behind you. Once you got sailing, there was very little change,” Kaiser said.

The ship is owned by the Columbus Foundation of the British Virgin Islands, who commissioned an American engineer to design and build a replica of the Niña.

The Niña will be at the Petaluma Turning Basin near the River House until Aug. 27. It is open for tours from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. The cost is $5 for adults, $4 for seniors and $3 for students.