Tall Ships A Sailing
These ships were breath taking to see them sail
Sailing
The magnificent mast on the tall sister ships is beyond words to express. Spending a few days visiting the Lake Michigan area, that happened to be the same weekend for the Tall Sister Ship Festival Parade.The sun was absolute all weekend long, as well.
They are schooners and replicas of the past 19th century schooners. Denis Sullivan, The Madeline, The Friends Good Will, Liberty, Manitou, Champion, Red Witch, The Liberty, and The Welcome, along with others that sail at various water ways, Bay areas, Lake superior, Chicago.The length of these ships vary from anywhere 31 foot to 148 foot, maybe bigger.
Upon approaching these ships, one would stop in awe! To see more than one, a fleet., beyond belief, I was unable to get a picture of the fleet, the mast were not up yet, only a snap of Bob and I, which a passerby took for us, then to decide which one would we get the rare chance to board for the 2 hour sail.
Buying the tickets
Saturday arrived to get the tickets, which we were going to get for the 45 minute sail for Sunday afternoon. Surprisingly enough, the girl at the table asked me," would you and your husband like to sail in the parade, we have a few left for the 2 hour sail in 20 minutes". Without hesitation, my husband both agreed.
1st pic split in process of taking picture of Bob with some ships in background, 2nd pic is 75 ft pool, (called slalom ?) that a crewmember crawled up
1st. pic are crew manning the mast, being sure things working properly; 2nd pic is a pic of one of the ships sailing
The crewman stood at the plank for us to walk on to get on the ship. This is the real thing, I thought as we walked on that plank. Barrels and crates, ropes, and crew stood before me. What a sailor I am going to be for the next 2 hours, if I agree to help set the sails, when one of the crew asked everyone to join in, and pull those ropes to get the mast up.
Of course I chose to sit on the first crate that I saw, while my husband put his strength to test.I watched, seeing how beautiful the water looked with the sun glowing down and all the fleet were gliding nearby. We sailed, the ships went into formation, out on the lake; I tried to focus my camera to get a picture of this formation, but because of the distance and width of it all, this was unable to be done with the camera I brought with us. If only I would have filmed this unique experience. It all came to a complete surprise to us when we arrive in the area, we would have been more prepared to capture it all! The best is when one least expects it!
The 75 foot pole, I believe called a slalom ?, held a young crew member climbing up, to overlook the lake, and to be sure everything was "sailing" right.
The overall experience was sensational to me. It was a smooth, glide on the water, and the beauty of the entire fleet sailing will be forever an imprint in my mind.
One can only imagine, way back in the day, how these type of ships sailed the seas, discovering just about everything, like the good U S of A!