Downrigging Weekend 2017
Each Halloween Weekend, the waterfront of Chestertown MD turns into a forest of masts, a floating timeline from 1630 to 20th century skipjacks and oyster buy boats. There's plenty to do ashore (dock dogs, fish and chips on a riverboat, bagpipes, screech owls and sturgeons) but the highlight is sailing in the midst of the fleet.
No need for a tardis, just fire up your minivan and head to Chestertown... with a camera...
And nevermind if you've already got a gazillion pics of rigging and sails and lines and stuff... ships are more like living things than mere technology. They fly on the wind, the lines humming with wind power, the hull creaks and groans and rumbles with wave power, the shape of standing rigging is taught as harp strings, the running rigging loops in spiderweb curves. The whole ship (and her crew) respond to every shift of wind, wave and current. It's a dance that is never the same.
No need for a tardis, just fire up your minivan and head to Chestertown... with a camera...
And nevermind if you've already got a gazillion pics of rigging and sails and lines and stuff... ships are more like living things than mere technology. They fly on the wind, the lines humming with wind power, the hull creaks and groans and rumbles with wave power, the shape of standing rigging is taught as harp strings, the running rigging loops in spiderweb curves. The whole ship (and her crew) respond to every shift of wind, wave and current. It's a dance that is never the same.
