Tall Ships

frequently feel nostalgia for my Navy days...a gentle longing I certainly did not share while I was actually in the service. So when my friend Gary had the chance to get discount tickets for an hour-long cruise aboard a 4-masted schooner venturing out far-too-short a distance from Chicago's Navy Pier, I jumped at it. (I should issue the disclaimer here that the days of sailing ships had largely passed when I was in the Navy. It was long ago, but not that long!)

Navy Pier is Chicago's largest tourist attraction, and probably a dozen tour boats of varying sizes...some quite large...ply their trade from the pier. The Windy, to my knowledge, is the only sailing ship in that fleet.

We spent more time waiting to board than the tour itself lasted, and before we were allowed aboard we had to receive some rather basic safety instructions unique to sailing vessels (i.e. be careful not to be hit by a swinging boom).

It is the nature of commercial ventures of this sort to get the crowd in the mood, and the cautionary information was delivered by a very nice woman in a pirate's costume (about half the crew was similarly attired...the other half wore company-logo'd polo shirts). There was lots of "Everybody say 'Yes, captain!' or 'Aye-aye, sir!'" jollity which was responded to with the anticipated enthusiasm by most of the crowd. And as usual, I just stood there.

When time came to board, another young woman waited to take photos of everyone boarding. These photos would be printed during the tour and be available for a mere $20.00 when the ship returned to the pier. I declined to have my picture taken at all, therefore I am sure earning a mental "curmudgeonly old fart" badge in the mind of the photographer and crew. But the fact is, as you should know by now, I loathe having my picture taken under any circumstances. I probably would have refused if I were still 20 years old. Just me.

So we boarded and climbed the ladder to the aft deck (ooooohh! Navy talk!) where we took a park-bench seat which backed against the rail. The ship shortly got underway, using it's engines to get us away from the dock and past the breakwater, where the crew and passenger volunteers--really, I'm sure, unneeded--hoisted the sails and the engines were turned off.

I tried getting up and standing by the rail overlooking the forward end of the ship but was asked by the captain, who stood about 8 feet behind me and to my left to please return to my seat.

The Chicago skyline, seen from the lake, is absolutely magnificent. However, my inability to turn my head more than 15 degrees in either direction meant that in order to look to either side, I had to turn my whole body one way or the other...not an easy chore while seated on a narrow-slatted park bench.

The same nice lady who had given the precautions speech stood with most of the passengers on the main deck, giving a running commentary about the various sights along the lakefront and the history of the lakefront itself (a fascinating story to be told in a blog someday). Many of the passengers were, of course, tourists unfamiliar with the city, and I'm sure they were impressed. I've heard the stories before, and I'm still impressed each time.

Still, it was another hot and muggy Chicago summer day (there've been a lot of those this year), and being out on the water, with the gentle rise and fall of the ship and the cool breeze was well worth the cost of the trip.

I just wish I could enthusiastically "Aye-Aye, Captain" and eagerly smile for the camera like everybody else.

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