Theresa enjoying the Tacoma Tall Ship event. Photo by Steve Weileman

Once again the American Sail Training Association brought their Tall Ship Challenge to the Port of Tacoma. More then 32 sail vessels participated in the event. This was a great opportunity to see canvas filling the skies. Topsail schooners, brigantines, brigs and barques where all represented during the event.

Theresa and I were unable to get on the water to view them till their last day in port which was last Sunday. We departed from Owens Beach where we bumped into members from South Sound Area Kayakers. This is a very active paddling club full of friendly, knowledgeable paddlers and we’ve had the pleasure of paddling with them in the past.

For this paddle we where keeping the itinerary lose as we really weren’t sure what to expect when we paddled around into Commencement Bay. Once we had a clear view of the bay, we could see that many of the ships were under sail and heading north. We decided to cut over to the Browns Point Lighthouse in an effort to intercept them and get a close view of the beautiful vessels. Just as we closed the gab the wind started to die and we were afforded a chance to closely inspect the fleet.

Cannon fire from one of ship particpating in the Tall Ships of Tacoma. Photo by Steve Weileman

While we at the lighthouse we started to hear the report of cannons firing and realized that some of the fleet where over at the granary staging a mock battle. As the winds were continuing to stay light we were able to make our way over to the clash and view it from the best seats in the house. Even though we knew that no shot was being fired, the report from the gun along with the billowing clouds of smoke kicked the fight or flight response and the adrenaline was flowing.

The Zodiac from Seattle. Photo by Steve Weileman

For me the best part of the trip was seeing all the tall ships mast towering above the water front. It brought to life in my minds eye the vintage photos I’ve seen of Tacoma’s waterfront when it was wall to wall ships, docks, and horse drawn carts. A great snippet back into the past.

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 10th, 2008 at 10:00 am and is filed under Journal Entry. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.