A Coast Guard representative told The Current that, “As part of the parade of sail, participants agreed to conditions established by Sail4th. One of those conditions was to not display political or politically charged messages/statements. The owner of the sloop Clearwater was contacted and requested to remove the message being displayed or be removed from the parade of sail. They declined to remove it. So, the Coast Guard enforced the agreement on behalf of Sail4th removing the vessel from the parade.”

But Jen Benson of Clearwater, who was on the sloop, said there was no communication from either Sail250 or the Coast Guard regarding the banners. “We were not given an option to remove the banners and continue in the parade,” she said.

(David) Toman (Executive Director) said that no such restrictions existed, only that ships were instructed not to carry banners that could be considered “promotional.”

“We’ve been part of the coordination of Sail250 from the very beginning,” he said. “We signed a contract last year, went to every meeting.” While Toman acknowledged that Sail250 did not specifically approve or disapprove the sloop’s banners, he said he saw other ships in the parade also flying banners.

“We’re known as America’s environmental flagship,” he said. “We’ve been known to fly banners from our sails, as they know. And besides, Sail250 did not tell us to leave the parade.”