For complete coverage, visit the Tall Ships homepage
- All
- About the ships (62)
- At the Festival (36)
- Fun stuff (42)
- General (25)
- Getting ready (18)
- Parade of Sail (8)
- People (16)
- USCG Eagle (32)
| Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| << < | > >> | |||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
| 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 |
| 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 |
| 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 |
| 29 | 30 | |||||
- June 2009 (1)
- July 2008 (120)
- June 2008 (35)
- May 2008 (6)
- April 2008 (8)
- March 2008 (7)
- More...
XML Feeds- artman77
- Guest Users: 414
Amid tribal songs and a cheering crowd, Takirirangi Smith launched a 20-foot canoe into the Thea Foss Waterway. He paddled the cedar craft adorned with Maori carvings with apparent ease.
Not bad considering the canoe was still a log on Thursday.
Smith spent the past five days carving the craft outside the Foss Waterway Seaport building, and the Maori man’s labors became a popular attraction for those passing by or waiting in line to board the Class A ships.
And if festival visitors enjoyed watching Smith carve the canoe, just wait three years.
Tom Cashman, the executive director of the Foss Waterway Seaport, plans on bringing a celebration of canoes to the area in 2011. Twenty-four Pacific cultures, like Tonga, Fiji, Hawaii and Japan, will be represented.
“The canoes will tell the story of those cultures,” Cashman said. “And we see Takirirangi’s work as a way of introducing the concept of that event.”
Shortly before it entered the water, Smith circled the craft and blessed it in Maori. He also thanked those who helped with the carving of the canoe. And then Medicine Creek tribal members offered a blessing and gave ceremonial permission for the canoe to enter the water.
“This is historically their waterway,” said John Smith, a Skokomish tribal member who helped Takirirangi Smith carve the canoe. “So we asked their permission in a respectful way,
Name: Kathy Lapp
Age: 44
Place of residence: Tacoma
Job duties: “I’m volunteering in the media center. I answer questions, escort media members on the ships and write press releases. I wanted something completely opposite of crunching numbers” at her day job at Russell Investments.
Favorite experience: “It’s the people, hands down. The people have been wonderful.”
Name: Philip Close
Age: 15
Place of residence: University Place
Job duties: “I’m in line management. I make sure people don’t get too rowdy while waiting in line for the Class A ships.”
Favorite experience: “The food. There’s a crepes stand that is just awesome.”
Name: Bob Arenburg
Age: 63
Place of residence: Tacoma
Job duties: “I’m loading and unloading buses and answering any questions people have.’
Favorite experience: “I actually haven’t had a chance to see much of the festival yet. Hopefully that changes this afternoon.”
Name: Vicki Borovich
Age: 65
Place of residence: Puyallup
Job duties: “I work at the information center. I give out maps, brochures and other things people need and sell golden Tall Ships Tacoma pins.”
Favorite experience: “I was a greeter yesterday, and I got to wander around, talk to people and hand out maps. Just chatting with people is the best experience.”
We're going to be profiling some of the volunteers who make Tall Ships Tacoma 2008 possible.
Name: Karen Knipher
Age: “50-something”
Job duties: “I make sure everyone in the VIP area is taken care of. Also, I make sure people who are going to be drinking alcohol are wearing the proper wristband.”
Favorite experience: “I have two. My favorite experience as a volunteer is just to be able to say thank you to all those who allow Tall Ships Tacoma to happen through their sponsorships. Personally, I went on a cruise on the Lady Washington last night during the fireworks. It was just a fabulous, fabulous time.”
Camp Patriot, a non-profit which provides outdoor activities wounded veterans, is hosting a kick-off party for their “Quest for the Summit” program aboard the U.S. Coast Guard Eagle today.
Three vets will climb Mount Rainier beginning Monday, and two groups – Rainier Mountaineering Inc. and International Mountain Guides – will help with their ascent.
The meet-and-greet aboard the Eagle begins at 6 p.m.
The crowd is buzzing with excitement at the sight of the Lady Washington rounding the bend and pulling into the waterway followed closely by the HMCS Oriole.
In case anyone missed the sails, a couple of cannon blasts signaled her arrival.
"Excitement, excitement!" Alice Galford of Mesa, Ariz. exclaimed from her perch at Thea's Park.
Galford grew up in Lakewood but hasn't lived her for 30 years. Her brother, Rick Howell of Tacoma, persuaded her to come visit specifically to see the Tall Ships.
"I love the Tall Ships," said Howell, who sails Commencement Bay with his brother.
Howell took the day off work today in hopes of avoiding the huge crowds that he expects tomorrow and over the weekend. The strategy appears to be working. There is a decent crowd now, but still plenty of room to find a good viewing spot.
Howell plans to be on the water tomorrow where he can take in the Freedom Fair fireworks show.
"That's the only way to watch it," he said. "It's in your face."
It was a great view, but he won’t be able to tell his family about it.
One of my fellow passengers on the Vashon-Point Defiance ferry stood on the deck and admired the dozens of boats that are floating in Commencement Bay.
There’s one problem. He was supposed to be on the ferry a few hours ago. He overslept. And he doesn’t want to tell his wife.
“Oh well,” he laughed, “I guess I’ll just keep this to myself.”
Bryan Cargill spent only three nights aboard a Tall Ship, but the 16-year-old from University Place was already talking like a seasoned sea veteran.
“They put me in charge of the portside jib sheet,” Cargill, a student at Curtis High School, said Wednesday. “We raised it, lowered it, luffed it.”
Luffing, Cargill explained, is when the crew pulls the sail and allows it to flutter in the wind.
“I hadn’t known that before this trip,” he said. “And I probably wouldn’t have known it if I hadn’t signed up.”
He thanks Youth on Board for that.
Cargill served aboard the Zodiac and was among 47 teenagers in the program, a project of Metro Parks Tacoma, Tall Ships Tacoma, Boys & Girls Club of South Puget Sound and the Sea Scouts. The participants, all 14 to 17 years old, served aboard one of three Tall Ships to learn the basics of sailing. Few had spent any considerable time aboard a ship before.
The crew left Tacoma on Sunday to meet their ships in Victoria, B.C., where a Tall Ships festival was ending. They spent three nights on board, working like a full-time crew member. For some, that meant waking in the middle of the night to perform a watch. For others, it meant learning hand signals to communicate with other ships.
Brent Mills’ two children had one goal when as they walked into the Quartermaster Harbor marina.
“They want to see some pirate ships,” he said. “They’re really excited.”
Mills, who lives in Seattle during the week and on Vashon Island on weekends, admits he’s a bit of a “boat guy.” He and his two children, 9-year-old Jackson and 7-year-old Zoe, spent four hours paddling from their weekend home to the marina yesterday in hopes of catching a glimpse of a few of the Tall Ships.
They didn’t see any. And the three drove to Dockton Park today.
“I’m still feeling it,” he said.
Zoe cut him off.
“Dad just let us ride most of the way here yesterday,” she said.
Almost a hundred people at mid-afternoon walked across the marina to try to find the best view of the ships. Dozens of other cars circled the street looking for a parking spot, and some resorted to leaving their cars on the shoulder of the road.
The view from the elevated parking lot was just fine for John and Julie Beeler. The Des Moines couple leaned against the side of their white GMC Yukon Denali and watched the Tall Ships sail into Quartermaster Harbor. John, 66, looked through binoculars as boat carried Youth on Board participants off the Zodiac and onto Argosy Cruises’ Spirit of Seattle.
Julie, 62, seemed just as content to soak up some rays as she watched from afar.
“It’s a beautiful day to be out here,” Julie said.
