SYDNEY—Authorities are devising a plan to keep thousands of well-wishers at bay during the Sydney Harbour cruise that will double as Pope Benedict XVI's official welcome to Australia.
World Youth Day (WYD) organisers expect hundreds of yachts and motorised vessels to compete for a glimpse of the Pope on July 17 as his 13-vessel "boat-a-cade" makes its way down the harbour to Barangaroo at East Darling Harbour.
Thousands of other spectators are expected to line the harbour foreshores and organisers are making plans for more than 150,000 pilgrims to turn out at Barangaroo Wharf, where the Pope will be met by national dignitaries and youth representatives.
Sydney World Youth Day Chief Operating officer Danny Casey said maritime authorities and police were arranging suitable exclusion zones for water-borne sightseers.
"We will be encouraging people to join and greet the Holy Father on water," Mr Casey told Fairfax Radio Network.
"Clearly there will be need to make arrangements for a suitable exclusion zone. Those arrangements are being coordinated by the police and maritime."
A NSW Maritime spokesman said the authority was working with WYD organisers and other agencies to provide the necessary support for any "aquatic events" during the Pope's visit.
"A number of on-water controls are being planned to ensure the safety of all harbour users," the spokesman told AAP.
"For security reasons, it is inappropriate at this stage to go into detail about navigational restrictions but the boating public will receive safety notices closer to the event."
Mr Casey said vantage points around the harbour were expected to be open to the public as normal.
"It will be an extraordinary day and an extraordinary occasion and a great backdrop, a great day for the church and a great day for Sydney and Australia," he said.
It is not the first time Pope Benedict XVI has travelled to an official welcome on the water, after travelling by boat-a-cade to the World Youth Day festival in Cologne, Germany, in August 2005.
Mr Casey said precise details of the Pope's arrival in Sydney for World Youth Day, including the timing and route of the harbour cruise, would not be announced until closer to the date of his arrival.
WYD coordinator Bishop Anthony Fisher said the flotilla of 13 boats carrying youth representatives and Catholic Church dignitaries from around the world will accompany the Pope on the three-decked Captain Cook Cruises vessel, Sydney 2000.
"Hundreds of thousands of young people will await him as he alights (from) this ship at Barangaroo Wharf," Bishop Anthony told reporters on board the Sydney 2000 on Sydney Harbour today.
The church was confident adequate security arrangements would be in place to cater for the boat-a-cade and his four-day tour of the city, Bishop Anthony said.
Pope Benedict XVI will arrive in Australia on a chartered Alitalia flight and leave on a chartered Qantas airliner.