One tall ship

©2015 Lydia Hinshaw

Adventuress  

 ANACORTES, WA -- Camping at the marina, we sometimes hear interesting stuff.  One day last week I overheard a conversation about a big, old sailboat that would be in port for the weekend.

 I kept watching for very tall masts, and sure enough, way out at the far end of one of the docks, I found her:  112 years old, 101 feet long and 110 feet tall.

 Adventuress has a long and storied history, but these days she's used mostly as an educational tool.  She takes out groups of folks, including schoolchildren,  from various Pacific Northwest ports during summers.

 On occasion, she does three-hour public sails that ordinary individuals can sign up for, although it requires some advance planning.  There was one scheduled here Sunday, but we didn't find out about it in time.  That probably didn't make any difference, because public sailings tend to be booked up well in advance.

 Back home in Florida, we often watch boats headed up and down the Intracoastal Waterway, just a block from our house.  We tried to imagine Adventuress in our neighborhood, and then we realized it wouldn't really work.

 Adventuress draws 12 feet, and the channel in the Intracoastal is only seven feet deep.

 The bridge three blocks north of our house only allows 65 feet of clearance for sailboats.  Imagine driving across our bridge and spotting an oncoming mast towering 30 feet above your car.

 The bridge has been there more than 30 years, and during that time I only remember one incidence of a sailboat too tall.  She eventually got through, but only after waiting several days for a low enough tide.