Little Mystic’s crew is in awe of their grace
Issue 94 : Jan/Feb 2014
That old saying about how “the sea is so great and my boat is so small” never seemed truer than this past summer when Mystic’s 30 feet on deck seemed puny indeed during the five days that nine tall ships visited Duluth, Minnesota.
What is it about these historic craft that attracts crowds of non-sailing spectators like filings to a magnet? We were told an additional quarter million people would visit the town of Duluth during the five days the tall ships were in port. What draws those who have no clue about today’s sailboats or the traditional ones of long ago? Are they simply moving museums? Works of art? Objects transporting us to a long-ago era? Complicated and remarkable machines? The essence of romance? Do they signify the power of sail and encompass pure beauty? Yes! Yes! Yes!
Over the past few years I’ve been particularly smitten by these majestic time travelers. It began with a chance sail on the Royal Canadian Navy’s training ship, the HMCS Oriole, and a tour complete with a prominent lump on the head aboard the two-masted brig Niagara (watch out for the low overhead!). There were the chance sightings three years ago in which we met first the barque Europa and then the ill-fated Bounty out there while cruising on Lake Superior. The Europa was under full sail and made a particularly lasting impression.
Later that year, we were given the full captain’s tour of the Texas tall ship, the barque Elissa. I even climbed halfway up her rigging, 55 to 60 feet above the deck, a memorable event if ever there was one. I’ve blogged with photos and linked about these earlier close encounters with ships of the tallest and most traditional kind: http://goodoldboat.wordpress.com/category/really-old-good-old-boats and www.goodoldboat.com/blogs/2010_adventure_blog.php.
It didn’t hurt that Jerry and I have read our way through all the Patrick O’Brian books about the adventures of Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin, the Horatio Hornblower series by C. S. Forester, William Hammond’s Cutler Family Chronicles, and currently Richard Woodman’s Nathaniel Drinkwater series of books . . . all about the age of fighting sail.
In Duluth, they came. They saw. They conquered. The crowds were smitten. Those of us who were able to avoid the long lines waiting to board the boats for just a short tour — preferring to enjoy the spectacle from the decks of our own craft — returned to the dock positively joyous about our private encounters, no matter what they had been. The crew of each boat had a different story to tell. These ships had come to the top of the Great Lakes chain, to the farthest end of Lake Superior . . . right into the heart of this country and right into the hearts of those who welcomed them.
We, the admiring masses, showed them a good time, I hope, because I’m looking forward to the day when they will return and make me realize once more how truly insignificant a 30-foot fiberglass sailboat only 38 years of age can be.
Thank you to Sailrite Enterprises, Inc., for providing free access to back issues of Good Old Boat through intellectual property rights. Sailrite.com
