In 2013, we spent a day at the Tall Ships Festival at Navy Pier in Chicago. These events are sponsored by Tall Ships America and occur annually. This year (2019) there will be a number of events in both the United States and Canada at Great Lakes ports. You can find a schedule and more information at https://www.tallshipschallenge.com.

We had a beautiful day and spent the morning walking along Navy Pier viewing the ships from the dock and also boarding some of the ships and walking around their decks. Fourteen “tall ships” had come for this festival. Tall ships are sail ships that use traditional rigging – the rigging is a system of ropes, cables and chains that support the ship’s masts. These are some pictures I took from Navy Pier where we saw ships tied to the dock.

From the decks of the ships we saw beautiful view of the Chicago skyline. We also saw some of the equipment and rooms aboard the ships. As you can see in the fourth picture, technology is playing a role in the tall ships of today. Some of the innovations are the use of GPS systems and Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacons (EPIRBs) that can relay a ship’s position if it needs assistance. The last picture depicts how well-appointed many of these ships are. The one pictured is named the Peacemaker.

After lunch, we boarded a tall ship and sailed for a little over an hour. The crew raised and lowered the sails during during our cruise.

While we were sailing, we saw other ships with their sails raised and beautiful views of the the harbor and the Chicago skyline. It was a beautiful day.