Pride II
Luck was on my side – on the morning of October 2nd I got a call from Missy who is in charge of guest crew on the Pride of Baltimore II. She had a cancellation for the October 5-9 trip from NY to Baltimore, she said, if I was still interested I needed to be in NY on the 5th. Was I interested?! – within minutes I had approval from Ann, ticket from Greyhound and bags packed – I was ready.
I was planning to go to Annapolis Boat Show on the 9th so the sail from NY to Baltimore was a perfect fit. I drove to Baltimore and after a long search for a parking spot I left my Suburban at the $21/day Marriott parking lot – I didn’t know that the football game was on that day and the entire downtown was filled with fans, cars, buses etc. I made to the Greyhound station with 5 minutes to spare. Ride from Baltimore to NY was uneventful although long. I arrived in Manhattan caught taxi and finally made it to the North Cove Marina just in front of the Ground Zero.
There she was Baltimore Pride II – Maryland’s flagship in her glory -
an excerpts from the website www.marylandspride.org
“Maryland’s PRIDE is a reproduction of an 1812-era Baltimore Clipper privateer. She is Maryland’s working symbol of the great natural resources and spectacular beauty of the Chesapeake Bay region. Her mission is threefold:
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to promote Maryland trade and tourism
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to represent the goodwill of all Maryland’s citizens
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to provide a unique education platform via onboard programs and the Internet for American history and maritime sciences.Pride of Baltimore II sails globally in fulfillment of this threefold mission.”
There were other stars in the harbor, America II, Stars and Stripes just to name two – America’s Cup boats.
After a good night of sleep and trying on our cold water gear we were promptly asked to help in daily chores on the boat, sand paper, paint brushes etc came out and soon we were engaged in 
maintenance work. 
Mike Jason Kathie and Jim are hard at work . Here is Kelly making a new splice in JT sheets
Next day we set sail and the trip was on. I was very excited in anticipation of returning to sea – who thought that 30 years after Dar Pomorza I’ll be again on a tall ship. We set sails right out of the marina and sailed out. Winds were out of NW, force 4 and building.
Here are a few images from from the Hudson 
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As we left city astern, we started to participate in the running of the boat, steer, pull lines, get yelled at and promptly develop sore hands, shoulders and backs. No Cross-Fit prepared me for this. It was amazing to see how well the full time crew worked – most of the time we were just in the way. Slowly we were learning to pull to the pin and hang on. More than once I was thinking – I’m spending $1500 in 4 days just to get yelled at by the kids and work my ass off? – I should have gone cruising.
As the sun set and winds built up we steered south along the New Jersey coast. The guest crew got assigned to watches and we started to get accustomed to the ship schedule Mike and I were lucky to be assigned to Kellys 8-12 watch. At midnight I was ready to get some sleep, ignoring the noise of working joinery, feet on deck and sounds of other crew laving for the watch I managed to get some rest. Overnight we sailed down the Jersey coast to the mouth of Delaware Bay. Our watch took over at 8AM, we sailed up the Delaware Bay to Canal WB3 – motored through the canal and anchored on Sassafras anchoring on Chesapeake Bay.
After a quiet night on the anchor we set the sails and under light winds sailed down the Chesapeake. That was a night of sleep in particular for those who were on 12-4 and 4-8 watches – they got to sleep as we were on pee-watch – when you get up to pee make sure that all is well. I didn’t need to pee!!!
We had to be in Baltimore that evening as the press was going to wait for Pride II. That gave us plenty of time to sail in circles, we had to tack or jibe million times. In the end not only guest crew but everyone was tired. We all were looking forward to a quick sail up to the Baltimore Harbor. We entered the Baltimore Harbor under the full sail, with the cannons blazing, helicopters hovering over and public ashore running for cover. It was great – no need to say that the Captain Jan and the crew know how to run the promotion machine.
In retrospect this was a great trip, as Capt.Jan indicated they made this trip many times, but this was the first time that everything worked out just perfect, from setting the sails in Manhattan to sailing with quartering winds down the Jersey shore, sailing up to Delaware Bay, perfect anchoring on Chesapeake to coming into Baltimore Harbor under the full set of sails. I plan to do more sailing as soon as my Deer Valley skiing engagement is over (link www.dvskiing.com ). We will fly to BVI and join Joe and Faye in BVI for a few days of R&R on theirs 65ft Mystic Charge – in the mean time Ahoy Sailors.