Speaking of barques and barquentines.....

Well, A Circle of Quiet and I were just speaking of barques and barquentines (arising out of a common interest in Hornblower) and it reminded me that R and I spent a day on a barquentine last summer.

This is us on board the SV Concordia, which is a school ship associated with West Island College. You can learn more about it at Class Afloat.

R relaxing on deck.

That's me at the bow.
(Wow Hornblower! What huge sunglasses you have!!)

Looking towards the bow from just beyond the wheelhouse.

We actually got to go out twice on the ship as the first time it ran aground.

Yes, kind of embarassing for everyone concerned. But the vessel was moored at the mouth of the Fraser River in Steveston, BC, and the mighty Fraser is a silty river. The sediments shift constantly, and even dredged channels can become impassable overnight. The vessel ran aground in very soft silty mud and so luckily didn't sustain any damage. It listed very hard though, and the Coast Guard insisted passengers get off (frankly by then it was not so much fun - the decks were at about 70 degrees) and so we got a free ride on a hovercraft. I wish I had those pictures in digital format. I had a blast being rescued by the hunky Coast Guard guys (and gals!).

The ship was afloat again on the next high tide and they rescheduled us on a 2nd trip. This time everything went off without a hitch and we had a lovely day sailing around Gabriola Island.

Oh, and to sort out barques, barquentines, sloops, schooners, rigs, etc. check out this site.