The definition of sailing, according to the ship's engineer: "Pull on the squiggily bits until the flapping bits stop flapping."
Notes from a Schooner Race
But first, How to be Indentified as a Schooner Bum:
Decide that you want pizza delivered to the boat while you're docked at the marina in Baltimore
Fail at trying to either call a piza place or use their online ordering system
Decide to walk to Safeway and get frozen pizzas instead(It helps if it's 9:30pm and you're already slightly inebriated because this is the first time you've been able to drink since leaving Boston a week and a half ago and there's alot of steam that needs blowing off)
Arrive at the gate to the marina carrying three boxes of frozen pizza and laughing and giggling at the smallest thing.
Realize you don't have a key to get through the gate.
Laugh some more.
A man walks up to the gate (probably a seasoned tall ship sailor from one of the other schooners also docked up at this marina) takes one look at you and says, "You must be schooner bums."
:)
So then we raced!!
First there was a parade of sail around Baltimore Harbour. There were a lot of schooners in a very small space. Perfect conditions for setting off our cannon! So we have a cannon aboard. It's a wee thing, just a few inches long. But it lets off a mighty satisfying KABOOM!! And we get to run around and shout things like: ""PREPARE FOR BATTLE! FIRE IN THE HOLE!! SHE'S COMING AROUND AGAIN! PREPARE FOR A SECOND SHOT!" There's lots of yelling and huzzahs and excited frenzy.
So schooner racing. Who thought that would be a good idea? Let's take one of the slowest forms of transportation and race them! It doesn't make for a very fast paced race in itself, but we had a blast! The weather was perfect, we kept a steady 6-8 knots almost the entire time. And in the wee hours of the morning we overtook our nemesis boat! Huzzah!
As we sailed down the Chesapeake Bay that evening the night was dark, no moon, no stars, very little light pollution, and very few boats around. It was so dark! Rather eerie, sailing into the void.
Side note: It's been fun listening to the accents on the radio change as we sail south. From Boston to New York to Baltimore. There have been some strong, salty, gruff cargo ship captians.
We crossed the finnish line around 08:00. 125 nautical miles in 18.5 hours. And then we sailed into Portmouth/Nofolk VA and I felt like we were entering a real life Battleship game. Detroyers and friggates and aircraft carriers and amphibious vessels abounded! It gave me the chills. To counter that effect, there were DOLPHINS! There was a huge pod of dolphins that followed us for awhile. I didn't know there were dolphins this far north. They were really amazing to watch. I hope there's more of that as we leave today.
We've been docked here in Portsmouth for 2 and a half days now adnd it's essentially just one long party of drinking and eating and shanties. There was a moment of excitment the other night during my watch when the boat tied up along side of us started to billow smoke out of their engine room! Nothing exploded though, so that's good. :) The other excitment was going shopping at a kitchen store on someone else's budget! Mitch and I have had a time setting up the galley on the boat. There's a plethora of straw baskets but no plastic spatula/flipper. There's a GIGANTIC soup/stock pot, but no useful sized frying pans of good quality. There are ALL of the metal serving spoons, but no useful serving tongs. We bought all of the things. :)
Today we board a school group of high school girls and sail for Charleston, SC. Wish us luck as we sailor round Cape Hatteras. It's gonna be a tricky one!
Note: if you want to mail me something, you can send it to Charleston City Marina in Charleston, SC.
Jewel Leuba
Liberty Clipper
c/o Charleston City Marina
17 Lockwood Drive
Charleston, SC
29401
We'll be there Saturday the 21st and leave on the 22nd.
Notes from a Schooner Race
But first, How to be Indentified as a Schooner Bum:
Decide that you want pizza delivered to the boat while you're docked at the marina in Baltimore
Fail at trying to either call a piza place or use their online ordering system
Decide to walk to Safeway and get frozen pizzas instead(It helps if it's 9:30pm and you're already slightly inebriated because this is the first time you've been able to drink since leaving Boston a week and a half ago and there's alot of steam that needs blowing off)
Arrive at the gate to the marina carrying three boxes of frozen pizza and laughing and giggling at the smallest thing.
Realize you don't have a key to get through the gate.
Laugh some more.
A man walks up to the gate (probably a seasoned tall ship sailor from one of the other schooners also docked up at this marina) takes one look at you and says, "You must be schooner bums."
:)
So then we raced!!
First there was a parade of sail around Baltimore Harbour. There were a lot of schooners in a very small space. Perfect conditions for setting off our cannon! So we have a cannon aboard. It's a wee thing, just a few inches long. But it lets off a mighty satisfying KABOOM!! And we get to run around and shout things like: ""PREPARE FOR BATTLE! FIRE IN THE HOLE!! SHE'S COMING AROUND AGAIN! PREPARE FOR A SECOND SHOT!" There's lots of yelling and huzzahs and excited frenzy.
So schooner racing. Who thought that would be a good idea? Let's take one of the slowest forms of transportation and race them! It doesn't make for a very fast paced race in itself, but we had a blast! The weather was perfect, we kept a steady 6-8 knots almost the entire time. And in the wee hours of the morning we overtook our nemesis boat! Huzzah!
As we sailed down the Chesapeake Bay that evening the night was dark, no moon, no stars, very little light pollution, and very few boats around. It was so dark! Rather eerie, sailing into the void.
Side note: It's been fun listening to the accents on the radio change as we sail south. From Boston to New York to Baltimore. There have been some strong, salty, gruff cargo ship captians.
We crossed the finnish line around 08:00. 125 nautical miles in 18.5 hours. And then we sailed into Portmouth/Nofolk VA and I felt like we were entering a real life Battleship game. Detroyers and friggates and aircraft carriers and amphibious vessels abounded! It gave me the chills. To counter that effect, there were DOLPHINS! There was a huge pod of dolphins that followed us for awhile. I didn't know there were dolphins this far north. They were really amazing to watch. I hope there's more of that as we leave today.
We've been docked here in Portsmouth for 2 and a half days now adnd it's essentially just one long party of drinking and eating and shanties. There was a moment of excitment the other night during my watch when the boat tied up along side of us started to billow smoke out of their engine room! Nothing exploded though, so that's good. :) The other excitment was going shopping at a kitchen store on someone else's budget! Mitch and I have had a time setting up the galley on the boat. There's a plethora of straw baskets but no plastic spatula/flipper. There's a GIGANTIC soup/stock pot, but no useful sized frying pans of good quality. There are ALL of the metal serving spoons, but no useful serving tongs. We bought all of the things. :)
Today we board a school group of high school girls and sail for Charleston, SC. Wish us luck as we sailor round Cape Hatteras. It's gonna be a tricky one!
Note: if you want to mail me something, you can send it to Charleston City Marina in Charleston, SC.
Jewel Leuba
Liberty Clipper
c/o Charleston City Marina
17 Lockwood Drive
Charleston, SC
29401
We'll be there Saturday the 21st and leave on the 22nd.
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