Tall Ships highlights

This year's Tall Ships Festival was more related to the festival than the ships in my opinion, simply because there were not a large number of significant (i.e. large, Class A) tall ships.
Nevertheless it was still a splendid sight to see the Parade of Sail today.
Minus Bluenose II (which is not in the water yet) it appears that today's parade was lead by Theodore Too, followed by USCG Eagle.
The following is a quick show of thre major participants in no particular order. 

1. USCG Eagle, always looks splendid.

2. Picton Castle.

3. My favourite, Gazela, still looking like a working ship.

4. Larinda rebuilt after her disastrous sinking in Hurricane Juan. Bounty on the left and Theodore Too on the right -two wildly different products of Nova Scotia shipyards.

5. Unicorn looking very ship shape.

6. The rakish Pride of Baltimore II always a favourite.

7. Roseway also a lovely looking schooner.

8. Bounty perilously close to George's Island, managed to claw off the lee shore.
Most of these vessels have been picture on this site before.

Unicorn off to the Lakes

The onetime Canadian sailing vessel Unicorn is left port this afternoon on its way to the Great Lakes.
Built in the Netherlands in 1947 as a motor trawler, it was converted to a sailing vessel in 1979. It came to Canada in 1997 and was renamed True North by Captain Doug Prothero of Toronto and later Halifax. It offered sail training voyages from Halifax in summer and the Caribbean in winter.
The current New Jersey based owners acquired the vessel in 1999 and through a special Jones Act exemption, it is now registered in the United States and named Unicorn. It is used for sail training for teenage girls through a program called Sisters Under Sail.
The boat has its own website, which is well worth a look - be sure to explore the many interior photos of the superb accommodations at:
http://tallshipunicorn.com/
It's charming wheelhouse features an inside conning station for bad weather and an outside wheel for most weathers. The presence of communication and radar antennas provides quite a contrast to the traditional look of the vessel.