NORFOLK
The Ring-Andersen is back on the auction block, after previous attempts failed to sell the 59-year-old wooden sailing yacht. The tall ship is docked downtown by the battleship Wisconsin.
A possible Norwegian buyer put too many conditions on his purchase, while another potential buyer failed to make a deposit, said Jonathan M. Gorog, executive director of the Virginia Maritime Heritage Foundation, which owns the vessel.
The vessel will be listed for auction on eBay and the Web site of Norfolk-based Atlantic Asset Management Group.
The Ring-Andersen was listed on eBay in November but the reserve of $650,000 was not met. A live auction Nov. 13 attracted no bidders.
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Ignoring Maritime Heritage is a tradition
Norfolk and Virginia have a long history of ignoring it's maritime history ( of which the Ring Anderson has no part ) Selling the Ring is necessary to help fund the Schooner Virginia and it's programs .It is just a big yacht and not setup to do training .
Norfolk has watched many ships sink in it's harbor , the Schooner Atlantic ( Record holder for crossing the Atlantic ) was sunk across from Waterside during the 70's and early 80's , the C.F. Miles , last nine log Chesapeake Bay Bugeye was sunk in Norfolk in the 70's and later in Portsmouth in the 80's .
No , the big money in Virginia has been about saving houses, plantations and buildings but not vessels .
The three ships in Jamestown are severely under funded .
Portsmouth was going to rip out it's Lightship in the 80's and build condos there , fortunately the ship was made a historic landmark so that could not happen .
The Mariners Museum exists because of private funding from the railroad and coal mines and has had little help from the state until recent years .
The Hartford , Adm. David Farragut's flagship was broken up in Portsmouth Navy yard in the 50's or 60's , a ship at least as important as the Constellation in
If you price it right...
If you price it right, it will sell. This article reminds me of recent buyers of pressboard McMansions desperately trying to sell them for loads more than they paid 2 years ago. Price it right, it sells.
Heritage Foundation a joke
Why doesn't the Virginia Maritime Heritage Foundation live up to its credo and support the maritime heritage of Hampton Roads by keeping the Ring-Andersen as a floating classroom instead of seeling her off to the highest bidder? I am sure that if the VMHF asked local marine businesses for help they would reap many rewards. Let us establish a program of education, empowerment, and social workings for the youth of Hampton Roads...the sea gives each man new hope.
I, for one, would be more than happy to donate my time and my business in teaching youth the skills and discipline in maintaining a sailing vessel and showing how such applies to life in general.