Battle Sail!

On the 8th of March we went on a "Battle Sail" on the San Francisco bay. This is where they take two square-riggers out, and they dance around and fire cannons (blanks) at each other. We were out there from 2pm to 5pm (a three hour tour...a three hour tour).
This was an amazing amount of fun! The ship we were on was the Lady Washington. We were squaring off against the Hawaiian Chieftan. We got there early so that we could make sure to get on the Washington. This because we had already sailed on the Chieftan several years ago, and also because the Washington was the one that they used in filming the first "Pirates of the Caribbean" movie. It was fun to think that we were running around on the very same deck that Johnny Depp had been on.
What was particularly interesting was finding out what it was like to sail one of these old tall ships. There is an amazing amount of coordination that has to take place on the part of all hands. It gave me a real appreciation for what it took to be a sailor. It's all about knowing your lines and your knots to the point where you don't even have to think about it. You just run over, grab the right line, pull it, and tie it off. And repeat this a thousand times an hour. (Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating a tad.) It was truly amazing to watch. To think that back in the day there were folks who could do that day in, day out, in all kinds of weather and in all kinds of seas, and to do it whilst cannonballs whizzed past their ears!
I got an extra thrill because I have had sailing vessels on the brain lately. For one thing, there has been the genealogy research. I had discovered that my great great grandfather had sailed around the southern tip of South America and came sailing through the Golden Gate in a ship that was probably not too different than the one we were on. So I got to try to imagine what that would have been like. Also, I have been involved with several work projects in recent years that involved sailing vessels. There was "The Battle of Tripoli" and "U.S.S. Constellation", both for the History Channel. Then there is the project I am working on now, which has me building a 3D model of the Quaker City, a sidewheel steamer that also had two masts and sailing rigs. So it was great to get out there and get a feel for what it was like onboard those ships.