Thanks all for your compliments and well-wishes
Congratulations on a beautiful ship. Did you christen her with a bottle of champagne as she left dry dock? I have been following your "making of" series and am amazed at how much you have been able to hide below decks to be able to function above decks. Just out of curiosity, how much does she weigh? I also want to congratulate you on all of those sails and yardarms and all of the rigging. That is amazing. One last question, have you ever sailed or crewed on tall ship, an old double masted gaff rig or a modern sailboat? Or did the lure of the wind in the sails just capture your heart on land? If so, you know the suspense of setting sail, turning the bow and catching the wind.
kaethe
Hehe, no Kaethe, I didn't christen her, but I should have! Though it would have been with sparkling apple cider instead! I did manage to "bury" a plamo coin at the bottom of each mast, said to be good luck when building a ship. The Black Pearl weighs 10 lbs (about 4 1/2 Kilos). And to answer your question about sailing.....sadly, though I have been aboard a few ships for dockside tours, I've not gotten the chance to be aboard while actually at sail. I've read and read about it though, and watched raw footage taken by real crewmates climbing the ratlines to unfurl sails in tossing seas and rough winds, techniques on how to tach, the works. I'm so busy with rugrats these days, but mark my words, one day before I die I plan to do a tour as a deckhand on the Lady Washington or some other replica ship that facilitates those hands-on weeks-months training sails. I know the romanticism associated with sailing, but I want to feel the cold hard truth of it too (it's hard work!). Only then will I have true sailor bragging rights. Right now I'm just a fake captain that's read a lot of terminology, studied a lot of diagrams, and built some working models using the knowledge I've gained through my self-taught course in sailing ships 101. Admittedly I knew nothing of ships until I bought my first playmobil ship which inspired it all! The black beard ship with ugly plastic furled sails led me to research how sails really work. Actually, the first thing I looked up was the word "furled." I wasn't sure at first if "furled" meant the sail was stowed away or set (open). That's how clueless I was. My first project was to give the BlackBeard ship UN-furled sails, and the rest of my research sprung from there! I've been immersing myself in books and books and more books of sailing ships, terminology, and related political history stemming from a broad range from western civilization and non western civilizations ranging from biblical times to the present, but really my area of interest is in mid-late eighteenth century and some early 19th century when it comes to sailing culture. However, I am most interested in 16th century ship designs where ships boasted power, majesty, and beauty, especially in the very ornate stern ornaments and sculptures found all over 16th century style ships. (The Black Pearl is closer to being a 16th or 17th century galleon, even though in Pirates of the Caribbean it appears in a late 18th century time frame). By the time the 18th and 19th centuries came along, a lot of that beautiful ornamentation was done away with as ships were being streamlined and designed more for practical efficiency, purpose, and speed. The forecastles and high stern castles atop bowed decks gave way to more aero-dynamic flat decks lacking any fore or stern castles at all, until steam-power and steel hulls finally replaced the beautiful raw wooden ships of yore. I wish to know one day, first-hand, that suspense of setting sail and turing the bow to catch the wind as you describe. One day, one day....
