SANTA CRUZ Just a few hours after an 18-hour trip from Redwood City that included a jaunt under the Bay Bridge, the Golden Rule docked in Santa Cruz Small Yacht Harbor for a two-week rest. <\/p>\n
The sailboat, a 34-foot, two-mast ketch, is in town as part of a worldwide tour to protest nuclear proliferation, an all-encompassing mission that includes nuclear power, but focuses on weapons. <\/p>\n
The tour, which is sponsored by Veterans for Peace, comes as the United Nations pushes a first-ever multilateral treaty to ban nuclear weapons. More than 120 countries signed the legally binding treaty on July 7, a group that did not include the United States, Russia and 48 other countries. <\/p>\n
The treaty will become international law once it is ratified by 50 countries. <\/p>\n
The crew of the Golden Rule hopes among other things to focus on those holdout nations, said project manager Helen Jaccard. <\/p>\n
Jaccard said the ship will also travel along the southern states and the eastern seaboard, as well as up the Mississippi River. <\/p>\n
After traveling through the U.S., the crew plans to go through the Panama Canal and on to Asia, she said. <\/p>\n
The overall mission is to educate people about the overall danger of radiation, stop war and protect the environment, she said. If we reach out to a broad audience, we have a much better chance of ending the nuclear era. <\/p>\n
The Santa Cruz stop on Thursday also came just before Hiroshima Day, the Aug. 6 anniversary of the day the U.S. dropped a nuclear bomb on that Japanese city in 1945. <\/p>\n
Veterans for Peace Santa Cruz chapter president Henry Meserve called the ships arrival, a sign of the possibility of peace, and the possibility of doing away with nuclear weapons. <\/p>\n
Meserve, who served in the U.S. Marines from 1960-65, said his father was a pacifist who knew the Golden Rules original crew. He said the ships mission is particularly relevant at a time of increasing hostility between the U.S. and North Korea, which is ramping up its nuclear weapons program. <\/p>\n
We dont want any more veterans, he said. <\/p>\n
In 1958, the Golden Rule became one of the first environmental activism vessels to go to sea, manned by a crew that planned to sail to the Marshall Islands. There, they wanted to stop the U.S. government from conducting aboveground nuclear weapons tests. <\/p>\n
The ship sailed from San Pedro toward the U.S. nuclear test zone, but the trip was sidelined after a crewmember got sick and a storm damaged the boat. <\/p>\n
On March 25 they sailed again, but the crew was arrested and jailed in Honolulu. <\/p>\n
But that incident, coupled with growing concern and skepticism from a public against its government, resulted in the Limited Nuclear Test Ban Treaty of 1963. <\/p>\n
The story set the stage for such environmental crusaders as Greenpeace and the Sea Shepherds. <\/p>\n
Still, the Golden Rule languished for years in Humboldt Bay, eventually sinking thanks to two holes in its stern, Jaccard said. <\/p>\n
The ship was removed by a salvage company and was narrowly saved from being turned into firewood by a call by its previous owner, extolling its historical virtues, Jaccard said. <\/p>\n
After that, a group took five years to restore it, with the help of several financial contributions, Jaccard said. <\/p>\n
The rotating crew sleeps on four bunks, and share a kitchen and a small bathroom. <\/p>\n
Jaccard said years of living in an RV made such a cramped lifestyle all the easier. <\/p>\n
Goldie is really lucky, she said. She is incredibly lucky or magical. When I lay on the bunk with my feet up, I think to myself how incredibly lucky I am. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The Golden Rule will be docked at P Dock through Aug. 18. The public is invited to visit through Sunday, and then Aug. 16, 17 and 18 from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. <\/p>\n
For information, to follow the progress of the Golden Rule or make donations, visitwww.vfpgoldenruleproject.org or call (206) 992-6364. <\/p>\n
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Following the Golden Rule - Register Pajaronian<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" SANTA CRUZ Just a few hours after an 18-hour trip from Redwood City that included a jaunt under the Bay Bridge, the Golden Rule docked in Santa Cruz Small Yacht Harbor for a two-week rest. The sailboat, a 34-foot, two-mast ketch, is in town as part of a worldwide tour to protest nuclear proliferation, an all-encompassing mission that includes nuclear power, but focuses on weapons. The tour, which is sponsored by Veterans for Peace, comes as the United Nations pushes a first-ever multilateral treaty to ban nuclear weapons. Continue reading