The Daily World out of Aberdeen just posted a story on the effort to make new sails for The Lady Washington in time for Tall Ships Tacoma. Crews are busy up in Port Hadlock sewing the sails to replace the aging fabric.

The tall ship has been using the same sails for 19 years nearly continuously. The sails and rigging were in dire need of replacement, along with those of sister ship the Hawaiian Chieftain, and the Grays Harbor Historical Seaport is almost finished making the 22 sails that will outfit the ships when they sail to the Tacoma Tall Ships Festival over the Fourth of July weekend.

...the point of pride, (Grays Harbor seaport director Les) Bolton said, will be having the Lady Washington and the Hawaiian Chieftain clad in gleaming new white sails, sailing from Aberdeen to Tacoma for the tall ships festival, where the Lady Washington presides as the official state ship.

Read Callie White's full story here.

This just in from the Tall Ships Tacoma office: The Point Ruston Ferry is moving near Johnny’s Seafood at 1199 Dock St. to act as a crew lounge for visiting sailors.

The tug Joe is pulling the ferry, which is a sales office for the residential development, toward its new location.

The American Sail Training Association just sent out a bulletin detailing the ports on its Tall Ships Challenge race. A fleet of more than 30 ships will sail and race down the Pacific Coast, with stops at events along the way.

The non-profit ASTA organizes the races, which rotate between the Atlantic and Pacific coasts and the Great Lakes.

Here's this season's schedule:

Victoria, B.C. tall ships festival: June 25-29

Tall Ships Tacoma: July 3-7.

Port Alberni, BC, July 10-12.

Festival of Sail San Francisco: July 23-27.

Oxnard, Calif., Tall Ships® Festival: Aug. 7-10.

Festival of Sail Los Angeles: Aug. 13-17.

San Diego: Aug. 20-24.

Read the full press release.

Came across this evocative video of the Lady Washington on YouTube.

The Tall Ships organizers are going to need volunteers – and lots of them – to pull this thing off. Already about 1,000 people have signed up. But they're looking for up to 3,000.

Want to get involved, but not sure what you might do? You might want to attend one of several hour-long recruiting sessions planned in the next month. They'll be held at the Washington State History Museum auditorium, 1911 Pacific Ave. Here's the schedule:

* Saturday, March 29, at 10 a.m.

* Thursday, April 3, at 5:30 p.m.

* Thursday, April 17, at 5:30 p.m.

* Thursday, April 24, at 5:30 p.m.

Volunteers need to be 16 or older and commit to at least two five hour shifts during the July 3-7 festival.

You can also sign up to volunteer on the Tall Ships Tacoma Web site.

Earlier this month, we ran an update on the tall ship's festival, including mini-profiles of each ship. Careful reader and Coast Guard veteran Gordon Patnude wrote in about an apparent mistake in one of the profiles: that the Eagle is 266 feet in length.

As a Coast Guard Academy alumnus, I am always interested in the activities of the Eagle, the Academy training ship.

I was disturbed when reading the article today, that you cannot get the correct specifications of this remarkable vessel. Even WIKIPEDIA has it correct.

The USCGC Eagle is a 295-foot barque with 22,315 square feet of sail, with all sails set. On one of my cadet cruises, we sailed at nearly 22 knots for several hours as we made our way up the English Channel in a steady and lively breeze.

Here's what I wrote back:

You highlight an issue on which we've had considerable discussion. As I'm sure you'll recall from your Academy days, the confusion arises because there are two or three valid ways to measure a ship.

According to the American Sail Training Association, the Eagle is 295' sparred length, 266' length overall and 231' length on the water line. We're using length overall - bow to stern, not counting the spar - in order to assure an apples to apples comparison. This is in line with the way the ASTA classifies ships.

As we bring you coverage, we're going to try to stick with the length overall measure whenever possible. It's difficult to be consistent because even the ships' Web sites throw around various figures.

The Victoria Tall Ships Festival just announced its latest ship signing, the Bounty replica that's already booked for Tacoma's event.

Victoria's festival, the week before ours, is the first port along the Tall Ships Challenge Pacific race route this year. Not surprisingly, the two cities' fleets are similar, including the Eagle, the Nina and the Kaisei.

Here's more from the press release:

The world’s most famous Tall Ship, star of the silver screen and ports around the world, will take centre stage at the upcoming Victoria Tall Ships Festival, June 26-29, organizers announced today.

The Bounty, built in 1960 for MGM’s Mutiny on the Bounty starring Marlon Brando, will make its first appearance in Victoria in nearly two decades. The 180-foot (54 metre) square-rigged three-master was constructed in Lunenburg, N.S., based on the original ship’s drawings still on file in the British admiralty archives.

“We have been working on getting the Bounty to Victoria almost since we conceived this festival,” said Bob Cross, President of the Victoria Tall Ships Society. “The ship is steeped in history. It’ll be a real thrill for people to walk her decks and think of Captain Bligh and his mutinous crew, one of the greatest sea stories of all times.”

Check out more on The Bounty here.

Here's more on the Victoria festival.