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    • swordbroad

Downrigging Weekend 2016

It started with Schooner Sultana (Chestertown MD, 1769) and Pride of Baltimore II (Baltimore MD, 1812) taking a sail together on the Chester River at the end of the sailing season, before both ships were "downrigged" for the winter. Literally, taking down much of the rigging to inspect and repair it before the next sailing season.

It was so much fun they decided to do it again.

And invited a few dozen of their closest friends.

Today Downrigging is one of the best waterfront festivals on the east coast. Chestertown MD is a beautiful colonial town (THE seaport until Baltimore took over) ... shops, galleries, seafood, the walk to the waterfront will burn camera battery and a whole camera card as the town shows her fall colors and Halloween decor off to the fullest.

The waterfront is a forest of masts. A floating timeline from 1638 to 20th century skipjacks and oyster buy boats and oyster schooners and other working boats, some over a hundred years old.

And (for you Whovians) at least one of these tardises is actually blue.
Picture
Kalmar Nyckel, a reproduction of a 1630s ship that brought the first colonists to Wilmington DE.
Apparently only the Dutch were crazy enough to offend the sea gods by painting their ships blue. Blue ship, blue water, glub glub...

​I survived an earthquake on this ship...

an experiment in film

...actual film, as in my friends gave me a film camera with some great lenses. I bought one roll of 36 exposure, 200 speed Kodak film to see what the camera could do...

and some shots over the bow by Captain Dave

Mostly this turned out to be the selfies I didn't take... shots of me taking shots of stuff. Dave actually shot plenty of other stuff too. They may appear here later.
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