A smaller tall ships

But along much of the waterfront yesterday the crowds were thin, and the organizers of this year’s expensive event are forecasting a much lower turnout than previous parades of the tall ships in Boston. This year, they expect 300,000 to 500,000 people; the last tall ships event, in 2000, drew 7.5 million.

“The bad weather and the lack of a Parade of Sail was a disappointment to many people, but that was dictated by public safety, which is a lot tighter this time,’’ said Dusty Rhodes, director of Sail Boston 2009, which struggled for months to persuade city officials to allow the event to proceed and canceled the opening event that features ships from around the world sailing one by one into the harbor. “But people who say this is going to be a bust aren’t seeing what we’re seeing. I think the last thing anyone would say is that this is a bust.’’

The comparatively lackluster turnout yesterday was in part by design. To avoid the massive crowds that would have required even more security, Rhodes said she and city officials decided to limit viewing hours from previous years to hold down the million-dollar-plus cost. Visitors were allowed to board most ships only from 5 to 10 p.m. yesterday, and the same schedule will be in effect today. Viewing hours over the weekend will be noon to 8 p.m., except for Charlestown Navy Yard, where viewing will be 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

The tighter viewing window left some visitors looking from afar at the tall ships that came from 17 countries.

“We’d just like to get a little closer,’’ said John Hanley of Arlington, who was there with family and a friend, looking wanly at the mainly empty tall ships bobbing at moorings beside the World Trade Center. “We just came here, not realizing we would have to wait.’’

They and other visitors thought they had been lucky, given how easy it was to find parking.

“I thought for sure it would be jam-packed,’’ said Richard Marchand, who drove in with a friend from Windham, N.H., and sat on a bench staring at the gleaming ships from Romania, Uruguay, and Argentina. “It could be worse; it could be raining.’’

Under a bright sun, which made one of its rare appearances this summer, many visitors said they were just thankful the event was happening.

Sail Boston’s plans existed in a local version of purgatory over the past few months as organizers sought to persuade Mayor Thomas M. Menino that they could raise enough money to support the city’s public safety costs. At one point, the dispute grew so contentious that Menino had threatened to bar spectators from the docks and threatened to tell the Coast Guard to ban the Tall Ships from sailing into the harbor.

The tension arose from a $1.6 million bill for public safety costs that Menino said organizers left to the city during the event in 2000, with no reimbursement from the state. The city was also concerned about security this year, as it was the first time the event has taken place since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

But the conflict was resolved last month when the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority decided to contribute $1 million from a fund supported by hotel taxes.

Among those relieved that the controversy ended in time for this week was Gabriel Moise, captain of the Romanian Navy’s steel barque Mircea, a 70-year-old triple-mast training vessel that now towers over Boston Fish Pier. He and his 192-member crew set sail April 12 on a trip that has taken them from islands off Italy, Spain, and Portugal to Bermuda and most recently Charleston, S.C.

“It’s very good to be in Boston,’’ said Moise as his crew entertained local VIPs with vodka and Romanian cold cuts. “It would have been a shame if we couldn’t come.’’

Aboard the Libertad, a 330-foot-long frigate from Argentina, Captain Dario Pellon said he was happy to have his ship return to Boston, where it once set a record for sailing 1,741 miles here from Dublin in six days and 21 hours.

“It’s an honor to be here,’’ Pellon said.

Those less enthusiastic about the event were the hundreds of police officers, state troopers, emergency medical technicians, Coast Guard sailors, and others whose job it is to patrol the Charlestown Navy Yard, Battery Wharf, Rowes Wharf, Fan Pier, and several other locations along the waterfront.

“We will deal with everything, and it goes beyond homeland security,’’ said Boston Police Superintendent Dan Linskey, whose department received $350,000 to patrol the event. “We have to plan for worst-case scenarios, as well as look out for pick-pockets, lost kids, and the elderly getting dehydrated.’’

Unlike other agencies, the Coast Guard men and women will not be earning any overtime, and their costs are not being borne by the state or the Convention Center Authority, said Lieutenant Stephen West.

“This is our responsibility,’’ he said. “We do what we have to do to maintain security in the harbor.’’

Much of their work began Tuesday when the first ships began sailing into the harbor. But as State Police cruisers patrolled the waterfront and Boston police officers directed traffic, they had ramped up security largely for naught. Authorities cited only a few minor incidents over the past three days related to the event.

The rain earlier in the week kept the number of visitors to the waterfront to a minimum and the ships docked to largely empty wharves.

“We don’t know how many people will be out there, but we know we have a limited budget,’’ said Terrel Harris, a spokesman for the state Executive Office of Public Safety, which plans to spend as much as $500,000 on the event. “That has to be enough. There’s no more money.’’

Along the Navy Yard in Charlestown, the event’s cost was no longer a subject of controversy.

With the scent of hot dogs and fried dough in the air, thousands of people, from babies in arms to the elderly in wheelchairs milled about Piers 1 and 4, where the USS Constitution and the Coast Guard barque Eagle were docked.

Many more are likely to throng to the area this weekend as the forecast calls for sunny weather.

“They’re unique, they’re big, they’re something you never see, only on TV,’’ said Gianni Romeo of Sutton.

Daniel Moreland, captain of the 179-foot Cook Islands-based barque Picton Castle, waxed philosophically as he welcomed visitors aboard.

“It’s about the connection with the sea,’’ he said.’’ There’s always been a mystical quality to sailing ships.’’

Martin Finucane of the Globe staff contributed to this report. David Abel can be reached at dabel@globe.com.