Tole Mour

{{Short description|Schooner and salt training vessel}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2020}}

{{Infobox ship begin|display title=ital}} {{Infobox ship image | Ship image = File:SSV Tole Mour at Catalina.jpg | Ship caption = SSV Tole Mour in 2004 }} {{Infobox ship career | Hide header = | Ship country = Saint Kitts and Nevis | Ship flag = {{shipboxflag|Saint Kitts and Nevis}} | Ship name = Vela | Ship owner = Island Windjammers | Ship ordered = | Ship builder = Nichols Brothers, Whidbey Island, WA | Ship original cost = | Ship laid down = | Ship launched = 1988 | Ship acquired = | Ship commissioned = | Ship decommissioned = | Ship in service = | Ship out of service = | Ship renamed = formerly Tole Mour (1988–2014) | Ship struck = | Ship reinstated = | Ship homeport = Rodney Bay, Saint Lucia | Ship identification = *{{MMSI Number|366822140}} Callsign: WDA5625 | Ship honours = | Ship captured = | Ship fate = | Ship status =Active | Ship notes = }} {{Infobox ship characteristics | Hide header = | Header caption = | Ship class = | Ship Type = Schooner | Ship displacement = 229 tons | Ship length = {{convert|156|ft|m|0|abbr=on}} | Ship beam = {{convert|31|ft|m|0|abbr=on}} | Ship height = {{convert|13.5|ft|m|1|abbr=on}} | Ship draught = | Ship draft = {{convert|13|ft|6|in|m|0|abbr=on}} | Ship hold depth = | Ship propulsion = | Ship sail plan = Sail area: {{convert|8500|sqft|m2|0|abbr=on}}. Three masts, 15 sails | Ship complement = | Ship armament = | Ship notes = Design by: Ewbank, Brooke and Associates }}

SSV Tole Mour is a {{convert|156|ft|m|0|abbr=on}} schoonersee its description as a schooner by its builders on [http://www.nicholsboats.com/pdfs/Brochures/S-85%20Tole%20Mour.pdf] (pdf file) and sail training vessel operating in the Channel Islands of California, off the West Coast of the United States.

Designed by Ewbank, Brooke and Associates, she was built by the Nichols Bros. Boat Builders{{cite book

|title=Diesel progress engines & drives

|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GrYqAQAAIAAJ

|accessdate=10 October 2010

|date=1 January 1989

|publisher=Diesel & Gas Turbine Publications

|page=28}} on Whidbey Island in Washington's Puget Sound to withstand the extreme conditions of the South Pacific, she is extremely seaworthy and meets or exceeds all of the United States Coast Guard's regulations as a Sailing School Vessel, while offering luxurious accommodations in comparison to other tall ships. At 229 gross registered tons she is the largest active tall ship on the West Coast.

The Tole Mour was originally commissioned by the Marimed Foundation of Hawai’i in 1988 as a self-contained primary health care support vessel, operating in the US trust territory protectorate of the Marshall Islands.{{cite book

|author1=American Sail Training Association

|authorlink1=American Sail Training Association

|last2=Dickinson

|first2=Jonathan

|last3=Wood

|first3=David V V

|title=Sail Tall Ships!: A Directory of Sail Training and Adventure at Sea

|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YCjZIAbrbDEC

|accessdate=10 October 2010

|date=10 April 2000

|publisher=American Sail Training Association

|isbn=978-0-9636483-5-8

|page=251}} The name of the ship was selected by a competition of Marshall Islands school children, and means 'A Gift of Life and Health' in the Marshallese language.{{cite book

|last=Schäuffelen

|first=Otmar

|title=Chapman Great Sailing Ships of the World

|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QgMRudqoLGQC&pg=PA394

|accessdate=10 October 2010

|date=1 May 2005

|publisher=Hearst Books

|isbn=978-1-58816-384-4

|page=394}} With onboard medical, dental and ophthalmological offices, the Tole Mour provided medical services to over 15,000 islanders over a period of 4 years, until the Marshallese government commissioned their own fleet of medical delivery vessels and the Tole Mour returned to Hawai’i to serve other purposes.

In 2001, she was acquired Guided Discoveries' Catalina Island Marine Institute, offering sail training, oceanography and marine biology education to hundreds of school-aged participants a year. The professional crew was housed in up into 6 double cabins and 2 master rooms within her 123 feet on deck and {{convert|31|ft|m|0|adj=on}} beam. Up to 36 youth participants could be accommodated in cabins housing 4, 8 and 10 berths. Her previous medical requirements provided areas for laboratory equipment, touch tanks, and aquariums.{{cite journal |last1=Cooke |first1=Kelly |title=Under a Cloud of Sail |journal=Sea Classics |date=December 2001 |pages=30-33}}

In 2014, the Tole Mour was sold to Island Windjammers, a charter cruise company operating in the Caribbean Sea. She underwent a refitting, as well as a name change, and is now known as Vela.{{Cite web|url=http://www.thecatalinaislander.com/article/catalina-island-tall-ship-sold-caribbean-company|title=Catalina Island tall ship sold to Caribbean company|website=www.thecatalinaislander.com|language=en|access-date=2017-01-22}}{{Cite web|url=http://islandwindjammers.com/sailing-ship-vela.aspx|title=Island Windjammers|website=islandwindjammers.com|access-date=2017-01-22}}