Columbus Day arrives early with Niña replica

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

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

The black-hulled vessel drew waves and comments from spectators 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 its departure Wednesday.

"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 of 500 years ago. 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 the West and East coasts, through the Panama Canal several times, around Cuba and the British Virgin Islands, as Columbus did, and even into the Great Lakes.

The feeling of sailing it is much the same as Columbus and his crew might have experienced, said Doc Kaiser, 51, of Green Bay, Wis., 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 ship also has a Sonoma County connection.

The brother of John Sarsfield, who researched and designed the boat but died before it could be completed, is Steve Sarsfield, a Sebastopol resident.

"I feel that it's sad he didn't get to see how it developed, but John was doing what he loved," Steve Sarsfield said. "May that be everyone's epitaph."

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

It is 93 feet long with a seven-foot draft. One of the few concessions to the modern world is an auxillary 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.

The Niña will be at the Petaluma Turning Basin near the River House through Tuesday. 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.You can reach Staff Writer Bob Norberg at 521-5206 or bob.norberg@pressdemocrat.com