{"id":1274,"date":"2013-07-08T13:19:57","date_gmt":"2013-07-08T20:19:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mattfife.com\/?p=1274"},"modified":"2013-07-14T14:38:27","modified_gmt":"2013-07-14T21:38:27","slug":"1274","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mattfife.com\/?p=1274","title":{"rendered":"Shooting cannons and sailing tall ships in the Columbia"},"content":{"rendered":"

I went on a battle sail event near Astoria in the mouth of the Columbia last weekend and I got to sail tall ships we shot cannons at each other.\u00a0 It reminded me of the last scene in the movie Goonies in which One-Eye’d Willy’s ship sailed off into the sunset off the Oregon coast.\u00a0 It was an amazing experience and I was very surprised by the maneuverability and agility of these ships.\u00a0 It was great to see the crew in action too.<\/p>\n

These events were put on by Gray’s Harbor Historical Society: http:\/\/historicalseaport.org\/<\/a> \u00a0 They maintain the ships and do lots of educational programs.\u00a0 They travel up and down the West Coast doing sailing, demonstration, and battle events just like this.\u00a0 For the cost of a ticket, you too can ride along.\u00a0 There are two ships full of 20-somethings that are all living aboard and spend their days sailing, doing tours, and maintaining the ships.\u00a0 What an interesting lot to say the least.<\/p>\n

The entire adventure took 3 hours.\u00a0 We all met at the dock and sailed out into mouth of the Columbia from Ilwaco, WA.\u00a0 While at Ilwaco, I decided to run out and stop at a humorously named location:
\n\"IMG_9330\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This name came (purportedly) from the Lewis and Clark expedition.\u00a0 They came to this cape regularly to look for ships to take either them, or at least their logs, home.\u00a0 Unfortunately, no ships appeared in the many long, rainy, wintery months they spent on the coast.<\/p>\n

But back to sailing.\u00a0 We met the ships on the dock.\u00a0 After lining up and picking which ship we wished to ride on, we motored out of the harbor.\u00a0 I chose the Lady Washington – which was a much more period accurate ship.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_9296\"<\/a><\/p>\n

After heading out to the opening of the Columbia we unfurled the sails and started shooting cannons.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_9355\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Here’s some of the actual battle sail footage:
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