Sailing, Old School

Although most of our excursions in the greater LA area involve heading north into downtown and the city center, as you might imagine, there are just as many amazing things along the coast.  After all, that's why a lot of people move here, right?

Right around New Year's Eve, Risa reached out and asked if Chris and I wanted to join she and Dad on a sailing trip.  This, by itself, isn't out of the ordinary, as they have a sailboat, but this time, things would be a bit different.  Instead of heading out on the Onde Amo (their boat), we'd spend part of the afternoon aboard the Lady Washington, a tall ship that's currently touring the west coast, teaching folks about the good ole days of sailing and pirates and mermaids and whatnot (I might be making that last bit up).

A picture of the Lady under sail.

This one's from their website;

one problem with being aboard is that

you don't get to take pictures like this.

Since our sailing was at 2pm, we met first for lunch at Bosscat Kitchen and Libations in Newport Beach, really close to John Wayne Airport.  We'd never eaten there before, but Dad and Risa had, and we were all happy with our food options.

Not our food, but a sampling of their wares.

Noms!

We got on the road and started heading south, but since we still had some time to kill, we stopped at the Hamilton Oaks Winery to grab a bottle, and then made our way to Docent Brewing for a few pints.

I took this for Jim and Leigh.

When they visited us last August,

their "that's soooo California" thing

was the fact that kombucha was on tap in lots of spots.

Apparently, Docent Brewing has it, too!

Eventually, we'd killed enough time, and we parked and redeemed our vouchers for the sail.  We got a short "please don't fall of the walkway" speech from a friendly crew member, and we headed aboard!  We all crammed onto the starboard side of the ship, so the crew could push us off the dock; there was enough wind that day to actually sail away from the dock (normally, they motor in and out of port), and they were excited.

The Lady Washington in port at Dana Point

And, more importantly, a giant freaking pillar.

Ahoy, ya salty dogs!

Woah, that's a lotta lines.

Once we got properly underway, the crew, who were made up of a host of students and other assorted 20 somethings, gave us some information on how the lines and sails worked, as well as some history on the Lady herself.  She's based out of Gray's Harbor Historical Seaport in Aberdeen, Washington, and she's a scale replica of the original Lady, which was built in the 1700s and was the first American vessel to make landfall on the west coast of our country.

It was a really neat feeling to just be zooming along on the ocean, feeling the sails catch the wind, all without a motor or the accompanying motoring noise (I have no beef with motorized watercraft - I think they all have their time and place - but this is a major plus for sailboats).

Unfurling the sails

Cruising up and down the coast

Ooh, portrait mode!

Our sail had about 30-40 guests aboard, and everyone was enjoying the trip; the only challenge to the enjoyment came in the form of a 7-8 year old boy who was weaving through people nonstop (while we had enough space to move around on deck, most boats aren't exactly spacious) and just about annoyed the spit out of the crew.  His parents pretty much turned him loose and let him run amuck, and he certainly took advantage of this.  Risa and I pondered whether anyone would really miss him if we chucked him overboard, and we probably could have gotten away with it.

 The Lady's bell - 

sadly, we didn't get to ring it.

It got a bit chilly by the end.
As he watched me wrap my scarf up
around my head and then pull my hood over everything,
Dad went, "yup, you're my daughter."
Please don't make us live up north.

The sail ended up being just over two hours, which was the perfect amount of time; it was getting chilly by the time we finished, as the sun was setting, and we all needed to use the bathroom (I don't believe the ship's head was open for us - if it was, that kid probably would have pulled out all the plumbing by the time we docked).  It was really neat to get out on the water in such a cool way and to experience what our forefathers would have; the Lady's length is about 70 feet, give or take a bit, and apparently, Columbus' ships were one half to two thirds its size.  It's crazy to think about a ship that small carrying an entire crew across the Atlantic Ocean and what they must have dealt with during that voyage.  Thanks to Dad and Risa for the incredible experience!

Later!

Amy