4/17/2010

Today was amazing.

We had serious winds; 30 kts gusting to 45. For the daysail we set the foretops'l and the stays'l and just ran with her. With only two of our ten sails set we were making 9.5 kts over water. This boat wants to run, and I for one, was glad to let her do it. It's a great feeling.

4/10/2010

So today was Privateer day down in Fells Point. This meant many things. First and foremost there were about a billion pirates running around, which I always find entertaining. I hear they get to be tiresome when you're in this business, but I was still smiling.

We also had our first public sails. The first one was just a plain old daysail which was new for me, and showed me what I have to look forward to; quite a level of intensity. After that we had a battle sail against the HMS Bounty, whom we've been docked next to. We had the boat filled with the aforementioned pirates and had a wacky time. I'll admit, I don't remember a lot of details because we did a lot of fancy stuff with the boat. Most of my time was sprinting around pulling really hard on stuff; kind of a blur.

Good day, but a seriously long day.

4/9/2010

Last night we had the official start to our season. We threw a big party down in Fells point.

It was really neat to see all the people coming out to see us. I sometimes forget that Baltimore can mobilize and care about something. It really was great to see so many people come out for her.

But then, this boat belongs to the city in a very real way. After the first one went down, Baltimore pulled hard to rebuild, fighting against a lot of naysayers to keep the tradition alive. Down over the chart table we have a sign that says "Remember the jar of pennies!"

I asked the mate about it one day, because I was curious. Apparently a local elementary school had all the kids bring in spare change to put in this big jar and donated it to the boat. Realistically they gave almost nothing in context of the cost of such a boat, but it proves the point; This city built this boat.

And I'll be damned if I forget that jar.