U.S.C.G. Barque Eagle Bos'n Keith Raisch had planned to work up more Bosn't School of Eagle Deck Speak lessons during Tall Ships. But we kept missing connections, and did not get it done.

Today we got this message from him to all of you.

Kits:

First, sorry I didn't get back in time to give the last blog, but you
know how it goes...

"For seven days do all you're able, and on the eighth holystone the deck
and scrape the cable." I was off checking on "Port Townsend Foundry" as
they are currently making some new blocks for us.

The event was vastly enjoyable, I met several old shipmates and made
many friends along the way, after all we're all sailors at heart.

To share a "closing" view, I think it best expressed by "Alan Villiers"
My pardon for the gender based time he wrote it, I've found women hold
all the same feelings.

"She is more than a ship to the sailor in her focs'l; she is a
personality. He knows her; he has watched her make her voyage, has seen
her come bravely through a hurricane, haul safely off a lee shore, work
miraculously through a calm. He has studied her little ways, the
eccentricities and peculiarities which each sailing ship has to herself;
he knows what she can do and what she can't; he knows when she is being
asked to do too much and when too little. He always speaks of his ship
as if she lived."

OR probably more appropriate for this time (same author being quoted)

"Should the passing of the deep-sea sailing ship be lamented? Look at a
picture of one, and think. It is regrettable to see anything that is
beautiful disappear. The sailer is not beautiful merely because she is
old; the sea holds no grander sight than the ship-of-sails seen so
rarely. Whether she is rolling in a doldrum calm, snoring through the
water by the wind with every stitch spread to bear her on, or driving
under shortened sail before the storm, she is a sight to stir the blood
of all who see her[...] There is another reason for the regretting the
going of the sailing ship, and that is because the sailer takes with her
the natural training-ground for the sea. I believe there is no sailor
with a better knowledge of his craft and better training for it than the
man who has been brought up in square rigged sail. It brings out the
best -- and the worst -- that the boy has in him; it teaches him
initiative and not to be afraid to use it.... It does a boy good, too,
to have his character shown in the light of day and the rough edges
knocked off..."

I believe EAGLE, and all sail training does this for boy and girl alike.

Thanks to the city of Tacoma, all the volunteers, performers, and others
and the other ships for making our first visit a memorable one.

Respectfully

Bosn

He may have left Tacoma and made it out to sea, but USCG Barque Eagle Bos’n Keith Raisch wants your brain cells to remain sharp.
He has a pop quiz for you:

Q: “What is it that is maritime in nature, that every person of driving age deals with daily?”

A: “Traffic lights. The lights that are used at sea are red to port, green to starboard. White was pretty much on the stern, or dead ahead, when power came on,” he said.

“The English Channel was the busiest waterway in the world,” he explained.

“Sailing ships at night had to figure out a way at night of determining who got to go. It started out with a white light to let you know I was there, then evolved to the red and green on the two sides. At the same time on land, we were riding horses across countrysides and open fields and did not need traffic patterns. When the technology caught on ashore, the sailors brought their rules ashore. Now you have traffic lights, in red, green and amber.”

Thanks, Prof. Bos’n!

Tall Ships spokesman Matthew Erlich called this morning to report the results of the American Sail Training Association race from Victoria, B.C. to Port Angeles.

Amid all the cannon fire and pirates, it was easy to forget this wasn't just an exhibition but also a competition.

For the record, the Lynx won, followed by the HMCS Oriole and Gig Harbor's own Amazing Grace, Erlich said.

The other ships that began the competition were the Hawaiian Chieftain, Lady Washington, Adventuress and Eagle. Due to tide, winds and the number of tacks it would have taken, their skippers elected not to finish.