Nick and I had the pleasure of hosting my mom and dad this weekend, and as usual, we made the most of their time out here! We went to the Wild Animal Park, showed them the best wineries in Temecula, and visited the Point Loma tidepools. Mom had suggested that we do something "special" and sent me a list of fun things happening locally this weekend. One of the things on the list really caught my eye: the San Diego Maritime Museum takes out two early-1800's-era tall ships and re-enacts a canon battle, Master and Commander style. Nick and I have seen this happen several times over the years that we've lived in San Diego, but we never realized that you could buy tickets and be on board as a tourist/passenger! And even though I figured they would cram us on there like sardines and we would just be along for the ride, I was beyond pleasantly surprised that a) there were only 18-20 of us on each ship, and b) they used us as part of the crew, hauling lines, hoisting sails, chatting with us, etc. Awesome, right? It gets even better: Sunday was the day of our sail and it was also the day after a storm front moved through, bringing 20+ knot winds. It's like we were in San Francisco, not San Diego, and it was a sailor's dream! We hauled ASS through the water.
It was so windy, the Star of India needed to have some sails taken in, so they had crews up on the rigging to furl the sails:
Aboard the Lynx, Mom, Dad, and Nick being put to work to help hoist the sails:
Dad, hoisting the jib:
When it came time to unfurl the main, the crew explained to us that it unfurls OUT and DOWN, unlike modern sailboats. I laid back on top of the cabin to get a view from underneath (yeah, I was "that guy" who was doing all the picture taking and none of the helping).
The Californian, the ship with whom we did battle that day, came out into the bay just behind us and we both maneuvered into position for the start of the EPIC canon fight.
The winds were anywhere from 20-28 knots during the time we were out, and it was one of the only times we've seen whitecaps like these on the very protected San Diego bay!
The heavy sails sounded like a thunderstorm when they luffed during a tack:
The Californian sails up beside us and we exchange pleasantries (we let them fire first because, as our crew said, we were the "good guys"):
The sails, oh those beautiful cloth sails ...
The masts and the fittings weren't too shabby, either.
After we allowed the Californian to live to fight another day, we sailed past the Midway Aircraft Carrier Museum and gave it a two-gun salute. One of our fellow passengers took video of it, which I make him promise to post on youtube someday, but for now here's a video of a previous year's sailing and Midway salute:
And as the sun started dipping to the West, we helped the crew take down the sails:
And to cap off a spectacular day on the water, we got a beautiful sunset.
I don't have too many more words to describe how amazing the experience was ... stunning. Perfect weather, perfect wind, a ship and crew that so exceeded our expectations ... it was really unforgettable. And just in case one of us loses our memory, I have hundreds of pictures (literally) to help us remember!
3 comments:
Amazing!
My god, my dad will literally salivate when he sees all these vessels! You take awesome pics, Kraks!
Ahoy, Kraks! Awesome photos! Sounds like a fantastic day!
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