Tall Ship Elissa

[MorganTyre]

Ever wonder about the abilities of the old tall ships? We just finished up the Harvest Moon Regatta here on the Texas Gulf coast. For those who aren't familiar with it, this is a 150 mile offshore race from Galveston to Port Aransas. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 260 boats competed this year - everything from the ultra modern to the interestingly old. Tall ship old. The old girl from 1877 wasn't handicapped and wasn't scored but it's just as well as I'm sure she'd through off the curve. Of the 260 or so boats to start she physically hit the finish line noon friday fifth, beat only by three trimarans and a J-144. To put this in perspective, we sailed in some seven hours later on our J35 and we were still one of the first ten boats or so who finished (2nd place in Class - woohoo)

The Elissa

Harvest Moon

[Coastie04]

Not surprised in the least. However, I'd imagine that you had wind somewhere aft of the beam. If it were an upwind race, she wouldn't have stood a chance. However, 1877 was just about the peak of working sail technology, right in the middle of the clipper era. They were designed to follow the trade winds and make the best speed possible. Heck, the a clipper's record from China to England around Cape Horn wasn't beaten until the 1980s by a catamaran. And that's not a speed record under sail, but a speed record period. This is definitely a nice notch in the belt for tall ships.

Coastie

[Jacky Tar]

The state o' Texas' Elissa is a beautiful tall ship. Looks like a great race as well.

[Red Cat Jenny]

Congrats! Sounds like a wonderful time on a beauty of a ship...sigh

[MorganTyre]

Not surprised in the least. However, I'd imagine that you had wind somewhere aft of the beam. If it were an upwind race, she wouldn't have stood a chance. However, 1877 was just about the peak of working sail technology, right in the middle of the clipper era. They were designed to follow the trade winds and make the best speed possible. Heck, the a clipper's record from China to England around Cape Horn wasn't beaten until the 1980s by a catamaran. And that's not a speed record under sail, but a speed record period. This is definitely a nice notch in the belt for tall ships.

Coastie

Yep, wind ranged from just forward of the beam to dead aft depending on where/when in the race. Never a beat. I did see something I'd never seen before though. This is probably old hat to you but I'd never seen a square rigger tack before. Not in real life, not in movies, not ever. It didn't ever occur to me that they even could. Fascinating thing to watch.