Awsome Dave.
Makes me want to go sailing.
Hell of commitment though - especially to get on something with some square rigged sails.
Knew someone who had been on the replica of the HMS Rose before it had an engine installed. (Coast Guard really doesn't like sailing ships without any other power LOL).
I got hooked on sailing when I was 12 years old and taught myself to sail a Sunfish. I was at Boy Scout camp in Resica Falls PA and while they had several Sunfish sail boats moored at the lake, there were no instructors to teach how to use them
So I took one out everyday for a week until I learned how to sail it.
When I was 23, a friend’s parents asked me to motor their 30’ sailboat back up from Annapolis to Turkey Point on the Chesapeake Bay where it was berthed while they headed down to Florida.
45 minutes into the 9 hour trip back, I killed the motor and deployed the sails. I then ran the entire distance back under full sail with one rail in the water most of the time by myself.
It was an absolutely thrilling experience to sail alone, ripping along with the wind at my back and the 30’ boat obeying my commands while holding at the edge of spilling the sails to maintain maximum speed.
I got back in under 7 hours...and never forgot the experience.