Goin’ Back to Cali: Tall Ships at Sea

On January 20, 2002, I sailed out on the good ship Kim to watch a cannon fight in the waters off Newport Beach. All the pictures on this page were taken by Michael Baranov, while I manned Kim’s helm.

Lady Washington never put up her mainsails. Hawaiian Chieftain (with the red sails, on the right here) seemed to have all her canvas out. As they maneuvered around to shoot at each other, Kim was able to literally sail a circle around them, so we got to see them from all sides, sometimes quite close up, as they fired away.

We had great weather for sailing, a fresh spanking breeze, not too stiff, with very manageable seas—not too much chop, and almost zero whitecaps. Kim was thrilled to finally get to stretch her legs on the open seas and sail in real steady wind, after several weekends of listless mouthfuls of nothing.

Paying passengers got to go aboard and watch (and hear, and smell) the battle from the decks of the fighting ships. I still think we got the better view, because we got to see both ships in action, but I’m probably biased.

Nothing prettier than a Newport sunset.

Tall Ships at Dock

Cali Index