Lady Washington

On Thursday I had tickets for Lon and I to take a cruise aboard the Lady Washington. Washington State's Official Tall ship!  I went down on Wednesday to make sure where the ship was going to be.  Then the car died, again.  We waited for it to be towed, again.  This time they assure me it will stay fixed. This meant that we had to get up early on Thursday to take Daddy to work so we could have the car.  We were not going to miss this!  We drove down through Marina Park, no tall ship. Perhaps they were still at Carillon Point.  We drove down there, it was 8:51, the ship was due to depart at 9am.  The only ship at Carillon Point was The Hawaiian Chieftan!  OH NO! I was sure we missed everything. We were driving home. Sad. Lon, spotted the Lady Washington, still tied to the dock. Behind The Fish House. This is Kirkland Marina (who knew?). We pulled over to the curb, I stashed by purse under a blanket and we RAN across the street and down the dock. We were the last people to board.

WE MADE IT!

The beautiful tall ship!

Ships bell, with the Master and Commander behind

This was not a pleasure cruise. This was a youth educational cruise! The kids were to hoist the sails! Lon jumped right in to learn how. He was part of the younger kids group, the Alphas.  He impressed all the hands with his willingness to take part.

Learning to belay a line. They also told Lon there are no ropes on a sailing vessel.  I have told him that too. Lines, sheets and halyards. He learned about all of them!

Seeing what they were doing!

Learning how to control the lines, letting them go slowly

This time, Lon could not be the first one on the line, they had to have a little bit stronger boy up front

What they did!

Hosting more sail. This time from the quarter deck

Once the sails were hoisted, they were not done ! They learned about how the sailors lived on board a ship. What they ate, what tools they used to repair a sail, and why some boys went to sea.

Lessons on the quarter deck. How long a watch was, how to tell how deep the water is, how to tell the Captain which direction they went over night.

Playing with the tool the sailors used to show the Captain what they did while on watch

Lowering the sails. We were becalmed. There was no wind. None.

Sad to be heading back to the dock with diesel power

First lessons in how to coil the lines

A little extra help in coiling and belaying the lines. I think Miss Lindsay wanted to hug Lon!  She was very nice. She was part of a program called Two Weeks Before the Mast.  I can't wait till Lon is old enough for this program! He is looking forward to it too.  He had a great time.
The sail was billed as a two hour educational cruise. Our cruise took 3 1/2 hours. It was so much fun, but we owe the City of Kirkland 35 dollars! The quick parking I found was only two hours.  The cruise was worth every penny!
We had a great time