How fitting that, on a Friday, the thirteenth, I would choose to write about thirteen tall ships that graced our channel yesterday. Called "The Parade of Sail", thirteen tall ships spent a little time in the channel of our fair city, on their way to a Tall Ship Festival in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
Impressive and magnificent, each in its own way, they motored through the channel, traveling from Lake Michigan to the Bay of Green Bay. Five ships arrived on Wednesday evening, spending the night in order to take on passengers the next morning. Most of the ships would carry passengers, who each elected to spend $250.00 dollars to experience the three hour sail to Green Bay. There was no shortage of people eager to take part in this exciting and historic sail.
The other eight ships arrived in waves on Thursday morning, purposefully timed apart to minimize the traffic disruption in a city that depends on two bridges to carry vehicles across the city's channel. The city's residents didn't seem to mind as hordes of well-wishers lined both sides of the channel to welcome the ships as they passed through. Boat horns, bridge horns, and cannons fired from some of the ships echoed throughout the morning as the nautical pageant played out.
"What is a tall ship? A tall ship is a traditionally rigged sailing vessel, rigged to replicate the sailing traditions of the seventeen and eighteen hundreds. Popular modern tall ship rigs include topsail schooners, brigantines, brigs and barques. Traditional rigging may include square rigs and gaff rigs, with separate topmasts and topsails. It is generally more complex than modern rigging, which utilizes newer materials such as aluminum and steel to construct taller, lightweight masts with fewer, more versatile sails." (Courtesy of the Door County Advocate, July 31, 2010 edition)
As an observer, unfamiliar with sailing in general, I can verify that these ships were highly complicated and intricate to operate. Many of the ships waited to hoist their sails until they were in the more populated part of the channel and it was fascinating to watch the sailors. Sailors, both female and male, scaled impossibly high, rope-ladders to skinny up to the top of the VERY HIGH masts, where they labored to undo the sails. Secured by safety harnesses, they made it look easy. All I can say is that if any of the sailors lost their footing and fell it would be one heck of a bungy-jump.
Most of the ships were from American ports, both Atlantic and Pacific, others from as far as Germany, The Netherlands, and the US Virgin Islands. These regal beauties were working vessels, many as nautical, historical, math, science and social science teaching classrooms. Crews were mostly volunteer and all were highly enthusiastic about their participation.
My two favorite ships were the ones that blasted their cannons and guns, adding to the authenticism of the parade. The Pride of Baltimore, an impressive 157 foot-long beauty, promotes the historical education of the War of 1812. As her cannons reverberated through the channel, one could almost imagine being fired upon in battle. The other ship that delighted the crowds with its artillery was the feisty little Royaliste, hailing from her home port of San Francisco, California. Only 68 feet in length, her visible crew of three men kept the replica of a mid-1700's sailing vessel busy with the sounds of a mock-sea battle, complete with the smell of gunpowder wafting across the bulwarks from her four cannonades. Because of her small size, Royaliste is able to be transported overland by trailer. She has traveled more than 6,000 miles by highway and has navigated four of the five Great Lakes as well as both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.
Thank you for allowing me to give a first-person account of seeing the Tall Ships Parade of Sail. My SO took fabulous pictures but the best pictures are those that are etched into my memory.
Sail on, Tall Ships.
Ancora imparo
