Tall Ship

Aside from continuing fiberglass work on the new hull panels, I didn't make too much progress over the weekend.  I ran out of peelply, so I've reverted to the old three-coats-of-epoxy method.  It takes longer, but after a couple of boat, I've got to be pretty good at it.  There'll still be a bunch of sanding in my future as a result of it, but it is what it is.

So, why didn't I make more progress over the weekend?  Because I was given a trip sailing aboard the Lady Washington for my birthday!  Actually sailing takes priority over boat building.  And sailing on a square rigger, well, enough said....

The Lady Washington brig-rigged replica of the smaller of Capt. Gray's vessels that he took on the first American expedition to the west coast.  She was built in 1989 in Aberdeen, WA, as part of Washington State's centennial celebrations.  Since then, she has roamed the waters of the west coast.  She has starred as the U.S.S. Enterprise in Star Trek: Generations, and as HMS Interceptor in the Pirates of the Caribbean films.  I visited her way back when she was under construction: shortly after her keel was laid, as I recall.  I been aboard several time since, but this was my first chance to sail aboard her.

The original sailed from Boston in the company of the Columbia Rediviva on a voyage of discovery to the west coast of North America in the late 1780's  Notable discoveries included the Columbia River and Grays Harbor.  From then, she served in the fur trade voyaged to China.  She foundered and was lost around 10 years after sailing from Boston.  She was originally rigged as a sloop, but was later re-rigged as a brig.  The replica was rigged as a brig, although, if I recall correctly, so was still sloop-rigged when she sailed with Columbia.

At one point, the dreamers that brought us the replica Lady Washington had also planned/imagined building a replica of the ship-rigged Columbia Rediviva, but this dream evaporated with the onset of financial realities.  These days, the Lady, sailing under the auspices of Grays Harbor Historical Seaport, sails the waters from California to Canada in the company of the square tops'l ketch, Hawaiian Chieftain.