A Tall Order

I've managed to get myself involved in the Tall Ships culture. There are 5 of them in Port Angeles now, and I hear that there will be about 20 in Victoria, so I'm going to cross the strait and follow them there, then head back to Seattle. I've been able to talk to a bunch of the sailors, and its really neat to meet so many young sailing people. It feels like home. I climbed to the top of the Kaiseh, a polish built japanese tall ship, I got to the top of the Bounty, which is built in 1960 (or so, check the website for that crap) as a prop for the film with marlon brando.
I've been on the Hawaiian Chieftian, and the Lynx, but not the Lady Washington yet. I've met a bunch of people I almost immediately would trust my life in their hands, despite the clothes they wear, their god-awful smell, and pretty much anything that they look like would show me. You look them in the eye and you see strength and something true. Its like meeting your old friends from way back again, except you don't know them yet.
I love the feel of wood decks beneath my feet, and even though some of the ships are steel, a lot of them still have wood decks. And the rigging. I am at home aloft, like a monkey in the jungle.
It makes me want to get aboard one of them. I think I may try.
In the mean time, I'm headed for Victoria, to see the promenade of the ships into the harbor.