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The Tall Ships Challenge series of international races, cruises and maritime festivals, is organized by Tall Ships America in cooperation with the Great Lakes, Atlantic and Pacific Coast, port cities in the United States and Canada, and 2016 found the Tall Ship Challenge back on the Great Lakes.

A fleet of tall ships once again sailed through the world's largest body of fresh surface water, and made port appearances in both the United States and Canada.

These tall ships are crewed by young people and adults engaged in sail training programs under the supervision of captains and other professional crew members.

Maritime festivals in each host port gave visitors a chance to board the vessels, meet the crews, and experience the rich maritime heritage that these ships represent.

So join us now as we travel the waters between Fairport Harbor, Ohio, and Bay City, MI aboard El Galeón Andalucia a replica 16th century Spanish galeon, and then experience the sights and sounds, the excitement and crowds to make the Tall Ships celebration in Bay City one of the most popular events in Michigan.

Full of anticipation about their upcoming adventure, the TV production crew of Matt Murphy, Marshall Fulmer and Bob Przybyls arrived in Fairport Harbor, Ohio, on Sunday afternoon.

It was the last day of the Tall Ship Fairport Harbor event.

The crowds were enormous and the weather was perfect.

Fairport Harbor was the last minute substitute port city for the tall ship event, when Cleveland had to decline hosting the event due to the Republican National Convention being held in Cleveland the following week.

Shortly after the Fairport Harbor event concluded, our production crew boarded our galeon, loaded their cameras and production equipment.

They were welcomed aboard by Fernando Boater, the ship's liaison and business manager.

After meeting Captain Manuel Maroubra, some of the crew, and getting familiar with the layout of the ship, they enjoyed the evening meal with the crew and then settled in for a good night's sleep in anticipation of the exciting adventures that lie ahead in the days to come.

Monday morning dawned with a spectacular sunrise.

The Fairport Harbor lighthouse looked majestic, silhouetted against the first light of dawn breaking over Lake Erie.

But even at this early morning hour, there's activity aboard El Galeon.

Pablo Tejada, who work the 4 to 8 a.m.

watch, was busy in the galley after making sure the dishes were clean.

He was responsible for setting out breakfast for the crew, who would show up throughout the morning.

Once breakfast was set out.

He had one more important task to complete raising the Spanish Royal Navy flag off the stern of the ship and hoisting it officially started the day aboard El Galeón Andalucía.

With most of his duties completed, Pablo carved out a few minutes to update the scrapbook of his travels around the world, sailing aboard El Galeon and other ships in Mallorca, Spain.

You know that in North Carolina, this is New Bedford It's a Newport and news.

Since El Galeon was not scheduled to leave Fairport Harbor for Bay City until Tuesday morning.

Most of Monday was spent getting familiar with the ship, talking to the crew and planning just how they were going to go about telling this story.

Even though Monday was not a sailing day for El Galeon, it was still a work day for the crew, for the crew on duty.

There were plenty of tasks to be done aboard the ship before departure.

So every day you will see someone working on it because it's, really hard to, to maintain the ship.

And Captain Maravilla is the first one to pitch in and get to work.

So this captain is very hardworking.

So, for example, the main is dirty, and he, pick up the sweep, make it so nobody.

No captain makes this done... and he does!

So we love him.

One thing that became very apparent was the pride Captain Marubia to on the appearance of his ship.

He seemed to be always working and thinking of ways to make improvements.

To illustrate this point, while switching off the excess water after scrubbing down the decks, he noticed the water was not draining properly.

After he consulted Miguel Pelican, the ship's boatswain and carpenter, they devised a solution to the drainage issue.

Miguel, would you out a water channel on the hull to facilitate proper grading.

Miguel started the project in Fairport Harbor and would finish it during the voyage to Bay City.

After helping the captain clean the decks, Albano Lazaro turned his attention to the hull of the ship and scraped out all port that needed to be replaced.

It seems that there is always work to do aboard the ship.

While the crew continue their work aboard ship.

The other tall ships began to depart the harbor for Bay City.

The Appledore four was the first to leave the dock and head for Lake Erie.

It had to be back in Bay City by Wednesday afternoon for a previously scheduled evening sail out on Saginaw Bay.

Next to leave was the Niagara and then the Pride of Baltimore.

Both replica warships from the War of 1812.

Both ships were leaving at the same time and would travel together on their trip to Bay City.

It really was a beautiful sight to see these two majestic warships close up as they departed downriver for the harbor.

Then we received a real treat when the Dennis Sullivan, with her sails rising past our ship on its way out of the Grand River toward the lake.

Her crew work expertly up and down the mast and in the complex rigging to make sure everything was secure before entering the lake.

It was really an awesome sight.

Captain Marubia and Fernando Beota... the ship's business manager, reviewed some last minute detail concerning the trip to Bay City.

Fernando also met with the Coast Guard to take care of some last minute paperwork.

So everything was in order for tomorrow's departure.

The final major task to complete on Monday was to raise and store the ship's gangway.

This job required that many crew members pitch in and out, even those who were not on duty.

And even Marshall from our production crew led his bustle, pulling on lines and helping get the job done.

With most of the day's work finished, now might be a good time to share some history about El Galeón Andalucía, and then take a quick tour of this amazing ship before departure early tomorrow morning.

The name of The Nao Victoria Foundation, a Spanish nonprofit entity, commissioned the construction of AEl Galeón Andalucía.

It required three years of historical maritime research and then six months of structural design before actual construction began in 2007.

El Galeón Andalucía took 17 months to complete, employing 150 skilled workers.

The goal of our foundation is to share Spanish history around the world, and was built for international association in Shanghai.

We lived there for one year.

After that, we was promoting the Spanish constitution around Spain.

Then we decided to cross the Atlantic.

She arrived in the United States in April 2013 to help commemorate Florida's 500th anniversary.

Saint Augustine, Florida, has been designated the American home port for El Galeón Andalucía.

She has an overall length of 164ft, a rig height of 121ft, four mast that holds six square sails, which together measure almost 11,000ft of canvas.

Her beam, or width, is 33ft, and she waves 495 tons and has an average speed of seven knots.

So the square sails with all of the regions that we have.

We only can maximum turn 50 degrees.

So that's mean that all of the winds that we are catching is always coming by the stern.

So it's really difficult to sail in these kind of ships because you need a very good wind conditions to set up the sets and also to set up all of the sails.

It will be take around a couple of hours between 20 crew members.

El Galeón Andalucía is the only galeon class vessel sailing in the open seas today.

Let's take a quick tour of this amazing historic ship to make you more familiar with it.

At the bottom most section of the ship is known as the Hold.

It measures 753ft.

The hold was exclusively used for stowage of cargo.

Today, since the ship usually restocks supplies at each new port city.. only a small portion of the hold in the back of the ship is needed to store the crew's food rations and supplies.

Further back in the hold, you'll find the cargo storage area, gasoline and water tanks, ship's woodshop, and in the skirt of the ship, the engine room.

In order to operate the ship using its large sails, a galeon style ship needs the wind to be blowing from behind the ship or abaft the beam.

Mother nature does not always cooperate, so when the wind is calm or blowing from the wrong direction.

El Galeón can call upon two auxiliary 380 horsepower engines to maintain headway.

If we are to buy engines, we can have a speed of, six seven knots.

But if we are going under, says we can catch around 12 knots.

So it's, faster and cheaper.

The gun deck is the deck located above the hold.

It is 1033ft and is referred to as the gun deck because the cast iron cannons which protected the ship against pirate attacks are located here.

Today, the gun deck is outfitted as a museum, which houses historical displays depicting the galeons history and other historical information from the time galeons sailed American waters.

For those who come aboard and tour the ship, it is one of the most popular areas on the ship.

In the past, the gun deck would also accommodate most of the crew members and some passengers.

Today, the crew's quarters are located in the forward part of the gun deck known as the Orlop Deck.

30 bunk beds become the crew's private living space, where they store their personal belongings.

Sleep or just relax were not working.

The 926 square foot main deck is located above the gun deck, and is where most of the daily activities aboard ship take place.

A 550 ton galeon could accommodate more than 100 people.

Officers, crew members, soldiers, merchants, servants, families and other passengers, as well as the livestock they carried with them.

Horses, chickens, sheep and even cattle occupied most of the usable space on this deck.

Cargo was loaded into the hole through a hatch, which is located in the middle of the main deck.

Behind the hatch is the main mast.

It reaches 120ft and holds two square sails.

The mainsail and the topsail.

Also located on the main mast is the main yardarm, which weighs more than 4,400 pounds.

There are many important and interesting decks located on or above the main deck.

Let's take a look at them in a bit more detail.

The cut water is the beak like projection that extends from the upper forward part of the vessel's hull.

It divides the water as the vessel advances through it, looking over the front rail.

You can see the grated deck below.

You will also find the bowsprit mast here, which supports the spritsail and the upper spritsail.

The cut water deck is very popular with the crew as a place to sit and relax when not on duty, and enjoy the view.

The forecasted deck or “focsle” refers to the upper deck of the ship, forward to the foremast or the mast nearest the bow or front of the ship.

This deck is a working deck.

The ship's bell is found on the forecastle, along with two cast iron Woodstock anchors that way, 2,200 pounds each.

The ship's bell was used for communication purposes between galeons of the same fleet during fog are also to mark the daily changing of the watch.

Today, three bell rings announce lunch hour dinner to the crew.

The quarter deck is where the captain and officers make their navigation calculations and command the ship.

The quarter deck hosts the mizzen mast, ship's wheel and binnacle, a waist high case or stand mounted in front of the helmsman containing navigational instruments for easy and quick reference.

Its traditional purpose was to hold the ship's magnetic compass mounted in gimbals to keep it level while the ship pitched, and rolled, and pilot cabin.

A few centuries ago they relied on ancient navigational instruments, but today the ship is outfitted with the latest modern electronic instruments to guide and assist in making the daily navigational decisions.

The captain's quarters are located on the quarter deck, and today the quarter deck is one of the most popular areas for the crew to hang out and relax when they're not on watch.

You get a great view of all the activities happening aboard ship from this elevated deck.

The poop deck is the highest deck on the ship.

The English name for this deck, poop, is derived from the French word poupe, which translates to stern.

It was intended for officer's use only.

It was from the poop deck where they directed and observed all maneuvers and activities aboard ship.

The large lamp located off the back of the poop deck, would have been lit at night to mark the position of each vessel that a fleet.

It also was used to communicate with other ships in the fleet.

When changes of course or maneuvers were to be implemented, it also located on the main deck under the forecastle deck.

You'll find the dining room and kitchen or galley.

The day's meals are prepared and served here to coincide with the changes of the watch at just beyond the galley.

You'll find the head or toilet facilities and the showers.

It takes a little getting used to at first, but one quickly becomes accustomed to the ship's tight quarters because you really don't have a choice.

Towards the rear or stern of the main deck.

Directly under the quarterdeck, you'll find the noble area.

The noble area includes four cabins and two heads.

Access to this private area was permitted only to officers, captains, masters, pilots and high ranking passengers who would have been deemed important enough to be assigned to private cabin for their long ocean voyage.

Many of the plaques and recognitions awarded to El Galeón Andalucía during or around the world sailing adventures are displayed here on the walls or bulkheads.

Of the Admirals Room, located just behind the nobile area, is used today for receptions with dignitaries and city officials.

When visiting different boards.

This room is furnished accurately with reproductions of furniture used on Spanish galeons.

The woodwork is absolutely beautiful, and the objects on display in the Admiral's Room really make you feel like you are back in time.

This ship is truly a magnificent sailing vessel.

So at sunset on our last night in Fairport Harbor, we look forward to tomorrow morning when Al galeon would depart for Bay City and the Tall Ship celebration.

Departure day arrived and it was all hands on deck.

Lines hanging from the mast and yardarm during our galeons time and port now are taken down and properly placed and coiled on deck.

There are no decorative lines here on the ship.

Every line is a working line and thus it needs to be put in its place so it is available when needed during the voyage to Bay City.

As usual, the captain keeps a watchful eye on his crew as he awaits the arrival of our Great Lakes pilot, and he does arrive at about 6:30 a.m.. When we are coming to the Great Lakes, we will is required to have a pilot all of the time on board.

So the pilot is the person who have all of the knowledge about all of the channels, the lakes.

We have to pay up huge amounts for the pilots because we need to have it all the time.

So it's like the 50% of our budget.

That is something crazy on all of that foreign flag and ships.

They have to have it.

Fernando, who will be making the trip to Bay City by land, removes some of the secondary mooring lines, while Captain Marubia giv some last minute instruction about leaving the dock to the first and second officers.

And before you know it, the captain gives the okay and we begin to move away from the dock.

Yes, it was really easy to leave the dock because here we have too much to wave and a little bit that we that we had was from the stern , when we we started to leave the wind helped us hold the stern out from the dock.

Captain Marubia gave the signal to the first officer to begin swinging the ship's bow towards the middle of the river, out towards Lake Erie.

The last ship left in port was the Drakken.

We were notified that the Viking longship had withdrawn from the Tall Ship Challenge for financial reasons, and would not be sailing with us to Bay City.

As we started to head upriver.

The crew waved goodbye to the few people who had come out at this early hour to see our galeon off.

While still on the river, the crew jumped into action to haul in the dock fenders that were hanging over the side of their ship.

The fenders protect their ship's hull from scrapes and damage while up against the dock.

Being that the ship is 170ft long... there are quite a few of these dark fenders that need to be lifted in and carried to the main deck, where they are dropped through the hatch and stowed below while in enroute.

We enjoyed our last few moments at Fairport Harbor.

After a few minutes, we left the safety of the harbor and entered Lake Erie.

So as Fairport Harbor disappeared behind us, the memories of the warm reception that El Galeón received and of the thousands of visitors who came aboard, would remain with the crew for a long time.

Now on to Bay City.

With our heading set west and the sun finally breaking through the morning clouds, Captain Marubia and the crew took a few minutes to relax and enjoy the view.

Local fishermen headed off to their favorite spots to try their luck this early morning.

If the beautiful sunrise is any indication, it would be a great day for all of us on the waters of Lake Erie today.

Jay came up to the quarterdeck to see if we would be raising the sail soon.

Unfortunately, (Jay) “wind is saying no to sails right away”.

As a gesture of courtesy, the ship flies the American flag when it operates in American waters.

There was wind, but unfortunately it came out of the West today.

El Galeon needed it from the east or behind her to benefit from the sails.

This is not like at the schooners or the spinning vessels that you see in some other tall ships event.

This is more like a museum.

We get a lot of people interested in history and also about sailing.

Or they might be a merchant marine students, or they already finished their studies, so they have to do their hours.

Here are the crew.

We are almost professionals.

We are volunteers.

We are proficient.

And we went to the school.

They've got a school.

There is people here that they are with... They will be engineers.

Several of us go to be capiains.

Okay, so here it's a good chance do sea time time because we need sea time to become a capatin and also for the experience.

Normally when you do this, it is a cargo ship or it, they day trip boat, but, you know, so people you see here is about the experience, it not just about sailing to sail on the Great Lakes, and you have different times in your life you dont have much time to sail on the Great Lakes So.

Well, we work on watches like team of, navigating.

I mean, we are nine, four hours and watch our resting.

So we are three, three, three teams during our stays in ports.

We do.

We split the crew into people with more experience, keep teaching people with less experience, and we keep going.

I mean, we are Spanish, so we are very close.

We are shouting all the time and making jokes.

A few miles out from Fairport Harbor, the captain ordered the quarter deck yardarm to be lowered and secured for the trip to Bay City.

This task required quite a few crewmembers to pitch in and help, although not as larger heavy as the 4,400 pound made yard arm, the quarter deck yardarm is still quite a challenge to maneuver without damaging it or the ship.

It was amazing to watch the crew work together to lower and secure the heavy yard arm, realizing that they were doing it the same way that it was done over 500 years ago with rope and muscle power.

Once the yard arm was lowered and in place, it needed to be strapped down and secured.

This season, crew made a complicated job look rather easy For those not on watch.

Now it's time to relax and enjoy the ride and have a chat with fellow crew members.

Even the Great Lakes pilot took time and ventured out on the cut water deck to experience Lake Erie from the bow of the 16th century Spanish galeon.

This was surely a first even for him.

This is my 17th season as a registered pilot on the Great Lakes.

Familiar with all U.S.

and Canadian regulations.

I'm here to ensure a safe passage from point A to point B. Thank you.

Some of the most difficult challenges sailing the Great Lakes are, of course, weather conditions that can change.

Zero visibility.

Many areas of tight navigation and traffic with larger vessels.

Of course, language difficulties are always going to be a problem.

I have yeah, I mean, every ship is different.

These are especially different because we do, you know, only a few times every couple of years do we get all ships within six hours.

We'll be in a much tighter area.

We're at a Fairport, heading for Bay City, making good speed here.

How about, I'm going to give you a 1830 and Detroit River line, 1830.

Charlie and Anita, we're asked to take care of a couple of flag issues.

Adidas mission was to untangle the flag flying from the upper sprit sail on the bow of the ship.

Meanwhile, Charlie's task was to untangle and then lower the 16th century Spanish naval flag that was flying from the foremast.

The red centenary, or commemorative flag, was flying to honor the Sevilla football club that recently won the European League for the fourth time.

The soccer team is a favorite of the crew, so they were flying its flag on El Galeón Andalucía to celebrate the victory.

This is not Adidas first time aboard El Galeon.

Two years ago she was with the ship traveling around Florida.

And now she's back again.

But not for very long.

I'm the third mate, so I'm in charge of the navigation with the captain.

My job here is a volunteer.

All the crew, more or less.

They paid me to the flight and don't pay anything.

They feed me and give me a bed.

And really, I want to earn money for my first time in my life.

So I want to to try merchant ships and other vessels too.

At about 75ft above the main deck.

Charlie now reached the crow's nest and maneuvered through the trap door, but she was still not done climbing.

There was about 35ft or so left to climb to reach the Navy flag, which had become wrapped in the cables at the top of the rigging.

She needed to untangle the flag at the top of the mast, before she can head back down to the crow's nest to lower it.

As we continue down Lake Erie headed towards Detroit, we encountered an unexpected big annoyance aboard ship Black Flies.

Who would have thought that in the middle of Lake Erie there would be biting black flies?

That was like a green one.. Wow!

These are not the huge black flies of Northern Michigan fame, but rather a smaller housefly variety.

But they still made the rest of the day very unpleasant, with lots of swatting, swinging of towels, and even electric fly swatter deployed to avoid being eaten alive.

That hurt.

The good news was it was almost lunchtime.

Usually we have one person who is always looking after the of the kitchen.

But right now we don't have it.

So we have a couple of weeks.

Now we are sharing this responsibility between all of the crew members.

So we try to give this responsibility to the best cookers.

Otherwise there is a lot of complains, not just ready.

The crew gathered in the galley for a hearty lunch before they spread out and tackle some maintenance jobs aboard the ship.

After lunch, Bosco Bueno harness the side of the ship and applied protective stain to the ship's hull, standing as a nonstop activity on El Galeon.

There are always no repairs to cover or scratches and scrapes to hide.

Captain Marubia is up on the quarter deck, screwing down some loose deck boards.

Enrique Torres, who had just applied a new hemp wrapping on the rail leading to the gun deck, now applied a glue coating to the ropes to keep them in place.

There was always something that needed attention on the ship.

Miguel, with help from Medina, finished up the water channel project that was started in Fairport Harbor.

Miguel, the ship's boatswain and chief carpenter, has a big job on this wooden ship.

Well, first of all this is a galeon And back then, a few centuries ago, about 20 would be part of the crew as well.

And basically a person who has an, I mean, unofficial position, like first mate or second name, because the person was being a lot of times on the ship.

So here, you know, the ship.

So it helps in any way with a crew, with the captain.

For us, the most important thing is to take care of the mast because he's all wood.

So we keep painting the mast... and see if we see any little cracks.

So the water doesn't go in.

If we see any little piece of rotting wood, we replace it.

We do whatever we can do to to make sure that the whole ship is going to last.

And yet the decks in the hall are iroko, which is a kind of teak.

So we keep mopping.

We see water, painting with teak oil.

Sometimes we have to do a little project of wood.

So we for example, we have, we have the water to run off the ship.

Yeah.

We do keep mainly, doing maintenance around the ship from the very top, which is 120ft high to the very bottom.

So sometimes, which is rare, but you can see people diving and scratching barnacles or checking just everything in the hull or climbing up in, checking the rigging, the mast, everything, painting, oiling, greasing, sewing the sails.

Also about the rigging we do, taking care of the lines of friction, changing the lines, improving the rigging.

Anything that we can do to sail better.

El Galeon, still on course, will require a few hours before reaching the Livingston Channel, which marks the entrance to the Detroit River because it was their first time coming to Detroit.

Ship's Officer Xavier and Pablo reviewed nautical maps for the entrance to the Detroit River.

Even though there was a pilot on board that would guide them, they wanted to be prepared.

For those not on watch.

Now was the time to just sit back, relax and just enjoy the experience of being aboard a 16th century galeon headed towards Detroit.

Just before 6 p.m., we exited Lake Erie and spotted the Livingston Channel.

The navigational entrance to the Detroit River.

Boaters were pleasantly surprised at the sight of El Galeón Andalucía and came out to greet her.

This is where the Great Lakes pilot earned his money, and Savior was standing by awaiting his instructions.

The Detroit River has a long and rich history.

The river's name was derived from the French Riviere de trois, meaning river on the strait.

The river travels west and south from Lake Saint Clair to Lake Erie.

This classifies it as both a river and a strait.

The river defines the border between Canada and the United States.

The Detroit River was first navigated by non-natives in the 17th century.

The Iroquois traded furs with Dutch colonists of New Amsterdam, now known as New York City, by traveling through the Detroit River.

The French later claim the area explorer Robert de Lasalle's famous sailing ship, Le Griffon, reached the mouth of the Detroit River in August 1679 on its maiden and final voyage through the Great Lakes.

Following the completion of the Erie Canal in 1817, which opened up easier travel to Lake Erie from the east coast of the United States, the Detroit River became a heavily traversed route for settlers, traveling to Detroit and on to northern Michigan and westward.

The Detroit River has served an important role in the history of Michigan and the U.S., and is one of the busiest waterways in the world.

At the beginning of the 20th century, Detroit's industrialization took off on an unprecedented scale, and for decades, the Detroit River continued to be the busiest commercial river in the world.

Just before we reached the Ambassador Bridge, the J.W.

Westcott the Second pulled up alongside El Galeón.

The J.W.

Wescott II, known for its delivery of mail to ships while they are underway, operates out of Detroit and is the only floating zip code in the United States.

It wasn't delivering mail that day, but it was delivering.

Our second Great Lakes pilot, Tony Brandono.

Tony's assignment was to guide us from Detroit through Lake Saint Clair, then out to Bouy 12 on Lake Huron.

Tony met Captain Ribia then received a quick briefing from our first pilot, Mark Lavalle.

Before Mark handed the ship over to Tony, even the veteran crew of the Westcott, the second couldn't resist a quick photo of our galeon before Mark climbed aboard to be ferried to shore.

Horn blows..... Just ahead, the Ambassador International Bridge connecting Detroit, Michigan and the United States with Windsor, Ontario, Canada.

This bridge is the busiest international border crossing in North America in terms of trade volume.

More than 25% of all merchandise traded between the United States and Canada crosses this toll bridge.

The city of Detroit opened up before Al galeon, and the crew was captivated by the city at sunset.

French missionaries first mentioned the site in the 1670s, founded by the French in 1701.

The tribe was the first European settlement north of tidewater in North America.

Detroit developed from a small, sleepy French fur trading post into the industrial powerhouse known as the “Arsenal of Democracy” during World War Two, after World War Two, automotive manufacturing exploded, And by the mid-twentieth century, Detroit became the fourth largest city in the United States.

Unfortunately, Detroit fell on hard economic times during the latter part of the 20th and early 21st centuries, with almost a million people leaving the city.

But today, Detroit is experiencing a great revitalization, and hopefully soon the Motor City will become known as America's Comeback City.

As night falls on El Galeón, we continued on towards Bay City.

Lake Saint Clair and the Saint Clair River lie ahead of us.

It had been a long but exciting day...tomorrow morning into Lake Huron.

Early Wednesday morning we found the lights of Port Huron off El Galeóns portside and the orange glow of Sarnia, Ontario, Canada offers starboard.

Just a mile or so ahead was the Bluewater Bridge.

As we got closer to the bridge, we spotted the Lakes Pilot Association's boat, Huron Bell, waiting for us.

Soon we would be swapping out lake pilots again.

The Bluewater Bridge is a twin span international bridge across the Saint Clair River that links Port Huron, Michigan and Pointe Edward, Ontario, Canada.

Together, the two bridges are the second busiest crossing between the United States and Canada, after the Ambassador Bridge at Detroit/Windsor As soon as we passed under the bridge, the Huron Bell started to maneuver into position to make the pilot exchange.

The boat effortlessly pulled up alongside and we stood by for our new pilot, Captain John Oldie of the Western Great Lakes Pilots Association, to quickly board El Galeon.

Pilot Tony Brad.

Donald's assignment was completed when we arrived at buoy 12.

There he turned over the piloting duties, gathered his gear, and climbed down to the Huron Bell for his ferry back to shore.

With our new pilot aboard, we headed out of the Saint Clair River towards the open waters of Lake Huron, with a flotilla of local fishermen leading the way.

Former Michigan residents Dan and Jay Lunsford, who are retired and who live full time aboard a sailboat in Saint Augustine, Florida, were sailing with El Galeon as volunteer crew members and were loving the experience in terms of volunteering... We're here for essentially as long as we want to be, as long as we don't exceed our welcome.

We figured three months in the summer is a pretty good time to be away from Saint Augustine, Florida during the heat of summer.

And I will start off by saying there is no privacy except virtual privacy, respect for each other, for the tiny little bit of space you have, and for the that flimsy curtain that closed it.

Clearly, there's no sound privacy, there is no smell privacy, but there's that respect for virtual privacy.

What I told visitors is that there are no luxuries of the body here, but there are so many luxuries for the spirit that you're willing to take that plunge.

You know, you're willing to deal with the fact that showers might be cold water.

They might be salt water.

They might just not be because it's too cold to do that.

And you've got to be arm's length away from 20 other people.

What I think is really, really good is that we got to meet a lot of people.

Not not just the people aboard who are, been wonderful, but also the people that come to see the ship.

And they stay really get involved in it.

When we can begin to relate some of the stories and some of the reasons for the El Galeón and the way it's done, I am still not decided whether I'm happier or at sea sailing this thing or in port, using it as a platform to meet people and help put the history in the context.

In the U.S., we are so used to thinking ourselves of ourselves as derived from the British, you know, 1776 and the 13 Colonies, the Boston Tea Party.

And when people come to visit this ship, I can say, you know, there's other influences on the U.S., you know, Florida was Spanish, New York was Dutch, Michigan was Michigan was French.

And sometimes when they see the ship, it's the platform for starting that conversation at about 10:00.

And the ship was abuzz with the news that Captain Marubia had decided to unfurl three of the sails.

Although the wind was light, it was behind us.

That was the good news.

The bad news.

Another bug invasion.

Small white gnats, this time thousands of them.

We think the captain wanted our production crew to experience traveling under sail at least once during the trip, and he probably also wanted to give his crew more practice working the sails.

The foresail or Forssell, which is on the forecastle deck, was the first sail unfurled.

The crew started to loosen the sail lines, then the captain headed up the rope ladder.

Traversed along the forceful yardarm, and began to release the gathered sail.

Meanwhile, up in the crow's nest, Marshall set up a camera to capture the unfurling of the topsail bows.

Bosco, Avarno and Xavier's job was to unfurl the smaller spritsail out on the cut water deck.

Once the sails started to unfurl, it was completely open, then positioned correctly on the yardarm and secured.

Working his way along the yardarm, the captain continued to release the foresail.

Manuel and Adrian headed up to prepare the topsail straps and lines that gather up the sail needed to be removed.

Secured safely in their harnesse they worked their way across the topsoil yardarm, loosening the lines.

Captain Marubia shouted instructions up to them as they worked and.

Once the lines are slack, crew members pull on them to help unfurl the sail.

The next step in the process was to raise the yardarm to get it to the proper height, high on the main mast.

Once hoisted into position, the yardarm needed to be secured.

Just another teaching moment for Captain Rubio.

All that remained were a few final adjustments.

I've been a Great Lakes pilot since the 1980s.

I've never been on a vessel or anything like this.

It's incredible what people can do with a few pieces of canvas and a couple of lines.

What a beautiful sight.

As the sails gathered, the light winds of Lake Huron propelling us onward towards Bay City American Challie Arnett West volunteered to crew aboard El Galeon for a different reason.

She met Miguel, the boatswain, while the ship was in port in Key West, Florida, and he asked her to come sail the ship with him.

And she did.

What I really came for Miguel.

He's exceeded my expectations in being a nice person.

So that's what's really exciting for me personally.

I'm the type of person that I like constant change.

I think that it's a unique experience, and it probably takes a unique person to be able to drop everything and and take on the challenges I enjoy, like climbing around to do the basic maintenance that everybody has to do.

That's it's kind of drudge work, but it can be sort of like a meditation if you approach it that way.

So the wind on Lake Huron was very light.

It was still wonderful to turn off the constant hum of the ship's engines for a few hours.

And experience with sailing was really like 500 years ago.

Adeda kept a watchful eye on the sails and made slight adjustments as dictated by the winds.

Powered by the engines, we traveled at a speed of about eight knots.

Powered by Mother Nature, we only hit a top speed of two knots.

But that really didn't matter.

This was a once in a lifetime opportunity to sail like Magellan and Columbus, even if only for a short time.

After a few tranquil hours of sailing, word came down from the captain that it was time to furl the sails once again.

Most of the ship's crew pitched in to help.

They climbed and pulled and showed just what teamwork really is.

All the while, the gnats on the poop deck made this a miserable job.

It was just as grand to see the sails furling as it was to see them spread.

With El Galeón Andalucía back under engine power, the crew had time to relax and enjoy what was left of this beautiful.

late Wednesday afternoon, Dan and Jay tried to find some of that virtual privacy they spoke of earlier and enjoyed a snack to tide them over until dinner.

As the day progressed, we noticed the wind start to pick up and change direction.

Now coming out of the northwest, the waves were getting a bit rougher but nothing to worry about.

At about 7 p.m.

off the port side of the ship, we spotted what we thought was the thumb.

Most of the crew of El Galeón had had no idea what the thumb meant, but once we showed them, they got it.

8 p.m.

dinner was served.

After a day of spreading and furling the sails, the crew was ready for a good meal.

And Manuel, tonight's cook stood by to make sure everyone had enough to eat.

As evening fell upon us, we were treated to a stunning sunset to experience the sunset on the water is very idifferent than from land.

Out here... Everything sun, wind, water, sky, all seemed to work in unison and provide those fortunate enough to be out here tonight a sunset we would never forget tomorrow.

into Saginaw Bay... Last night when we went to bed, El Galeón was located just east of the thumb.

However, when we woke Thursday morning, we were back south of it down by Harbor Beach and the wind farms offshore.

The winds had increased overnight and were predicted to continue to increase as the day progressed.

El Galeón was to muster up with the other tall ships in the Saginaw Bay at 1 p.m.

for the parade of sail, but the weather looked like it was not going to cooperate with that plan.

At 11 a.m., the winds were constant at almost 13mph, with gusts reaching 23mph.

Captain Marubia spoke with Fernando Beota to the ship's business manager, who was in Bay City preparing for our arrival.

We arrived in Saginaw Bay around 1 p.m.. Winds were then blowing at about 14mph, with gusts approaching 28mph.

Due to the high northwest winds.

Captain Marubia made the decision not to enter the river until the wind gusts fell below 15 mph, and that would be a while since the winds were still increasing.

As everyone on the ship has been able to witness, it's been windy all day long.

But it's not necessarily the wind we're dealing with out here.

That's the problem is the wind that you're going to encounter when you actually get in to the port.

Once you get in there, you have to deal with bridges, but they must be, passed through.

And the wind was going to be right on the ship's beam so that the power of the wind would set the ship down into the bridge.

Captain's decision was not to put a ship at risk.

So when the captain decides he's not going to put his ship, at risk, that should be respected and, and not second guessed.

The decision was made to keep El Galeón out in the deeper water.

So we spent our day traveling back and forth between roughly Pinconning and Caseville.

The Niagara also decided to do the same while waiting for the wind conditions to improve.

Although the rough waves did not deter all the local boaters from venturing out into the bay to get a closer look at the tall ships, it did cut down drastically on the number of boats that usually welcomes the fleet.

At about 2 p.m., the other ships began to head for the Saginaw River.

The mouth of the river was crowded with boats that hadn't ventured out into the rougher waters of the bay.

Shorelines along the river were lined with locals who welcomed their ships as they made their way upstream.

This is always one of the highlights for spectators, who get a chance to see these majestic ships on the move.

Throughout the afternoon, ships arrive downtown of Winona Park at Veterans Memorial Park.

Bay City sure gave them a warm welcome to our Tall Ship celebration.

Meanwhile, back out on the bay, El Galeón and the Niagara were still in there, holding patterns, waiting for the winds to subside.

Before El Galeon could venture up the river, two of our yard arms had to be tilted so she could pass between the open bridges.

Once again, with rope and muscle power, the crew jumped into action and tackled these complicated maneuvers.

Even under these windy conditions, there was still work that needed to be done.

Pepe, working off the port side of the ship, applied more protective stay to the hull before we arrived in Bay City.

The wind and rough waves didn't seem to bother him one bit.

Miguel, the ship's boatswain, directed the crew to retrieve the dock fenders and place them over the side of the ship.

They needed to be in place before we reached the dock in Bay City.

This was a good sign.

At about 4 p.m., the winds reached their highest constant speed of just over 17 miles an hour, with wind gusts approaching 30mph.

These conditions did not faze Bosco Bueno, who decided that what this day needed was some homemade bread.

Just another day aboard El Galeon.

When we sail for a long time, maybe one week, 12 days... we do 1 or 2 bread per day normally But this is the first sail that we don't make it.

So here I am making bread.

Oh, not here...but the machine .

The Niagara was still out here with us, and we had heard through the grapevine that the Norwegians and their Viking longship, the Drakken, had rejoined the tour and were making their way towards the Saginaw Bay.

That was great news.

Our crew kept a lookout for the Drakken and her crew.

As early evening arrived, the wind seemed to be dying down a bit.

At about 7 p.m., the winds had dropped to 14 miles an hour.

Hopefully, as the sun sets, the winds would continue to decrease.

and well, was putting the finishing touches on our supper.

And in honor of our production crew, he decided to make them hotdogs during supper.

Word came down that the Drakken had been spotted and was headed for the mouth of the Saginaw River.

We also were notified of the Niagara decision to follow the Viking Longships lead, and had it also just after 8 p.m., with wind speeds at just over ten miles per hour.

Word came in from the captain that we two were going to join the Drakken and Niagara and he ad in.

So as the sun began to settle in the west, the last three ships out of the bay started for the mouth of the river.

It seemed our long day out of the Saginaw Bay was finally coming to an end.

With Adeda at the helm... The captain, the lake pilot standing by if needed, and an escort El Galeon, fell in behind the Niagara and the Drakken, and we headed for the Saginaw River.

Crowds Cheering Our remarkable and unforgettable voyage aboard El Galeón Andalucía.

Unfortunately, now came to an end as we approached our mooring berth in Wenonah Park.

We remembered that about 150 years ago, right here in Bay City, a shipbuilding industry was born at its peak.

Bay City Shipbuilders built some of the largest vessels in the world.

The reason that Bay City's shipbuilding industry became such a big part of our history was because the river was there and the river was perfect.

There were a couple of early attempts at shipbuilding, but nothing on a grand scale, until a guy named James Davidson came in in 1871.

He saw the advantages of the river as a place to build a shipyard.

And after two attempts, one in Saginaw and one on a different spot in Bay City, he actually settled what is what is now Vets Park area in Bay City for the Davidson Shipyards.

He started off building wooden vessels, basically masted schooners, small tugboats, wooden tugboats.

And Davidson never built a steel ship at all in his during his career.

His career ended in the early 1900s.

Basically, 1905 was the last one of the last of his big ships were built.

He also ran a dry dock on the east side of the river, and then had a dry dock on the west side of the river later.

Captain James Davidson was sort of one of the kings of wooden ships on the lakes and one of the, the men who made a lot of money and a lot of fame, doing shipbuilding and hauling of goods.

Davidson's chief rival was an individual named Frank Wheeler, who started just shortly after James Davidson Wheeler also started building wooden ships as well.

Masted schooners, you know, several, in some cases, several masts.

Wheeler decided in the 1880s, the late 1880s, that he was going to try his hand at building steel vessels.

So by 1888, Wheeler actually had a workforce of 670 people, which was a lot of people.

So in 1889, he launched the first steel vessel on the Great Lakes.

The city of Chicago, followed closely by another vessel called the Emily P Weed.

Those first two vessels ushered in a major era of steel shipbuilding on the on the Saginaw River.

And we saw less of the masts of the schooners and the schooner barges and things like that.

The principal reason why wooden vessels were so plentiful, and why there was this big need for shipbuilding on the Great Lakes, was simply for the hauling of goods.

Because this was a freshwater highway system, the people that owned the companies that wanted to ship goods from, say, Buffalo to, Duluth needed a quick, efficient means of transportation.

And so they would ship them on via the water.

These vessels went from, you know, fairly small, you know, 110ft -115ft vessels all the way up to, by the time Davidson was finished, he had produced some vessels in excess of 350ft long, which were essentially schooner barges.

And Davidson could haul of multiple of these schooner barges behind a steamship, which in essence would be like a tandem trailer.

You can haul multiple things on the highways today.

Well, that was the tandem trailer of the Great Lakes maritime trade.

Just to illustrate the point that the river was a freshwater highway in July of 1868.

The Third Street Bridge in Bay City had to open for 326 steamers, 1694 tugboats, 442 sailing vessels, and 217 barges.

That's a total of 2679 vessels.

Or, if you want to average it, 86 per day, just in the month of July, 1868.

Essentially, Davidson and Wheeler were done by the early 1900s.

And in 1905, a guy named Harry J. Defoe actually started the Defoe Boat & Motor Works era of shipbuilding, but that included pleasure craft and kit boats and military vessels and warships.

Those were things that were a very different from the masted schooners and the big freight haulers that we used to see on the Great Lakes.

With our rich shipbuilding history.

It's a natural that an event like the Tall Ships Festival would become such a popular event in Bay City.

It was a beautiful Friday morning, and the crowd started to gather Wenonah Park at Veteran's Park about an hour or so before the gates would open.

Everyone looked forward to the beautiful tall ships that were visible just beyond the gates.

This was the sixth time the tall ship event was held in Bay City.

All the hard work and planning by the Bay Sail Organization and hundreds of volunteers over the past three years had finally come to fruition.

About 18 years ago, there was new leadership at the local Convention and Visitors Bureau that, was interested in pursuing a tall ship for Bay City.

At that time, we created the organization, which is now called Bay Sail, purchased the schooner Appledore IV and relocated her here to this area.

And shortly thereafter we heard that there was a festival, a tall ships festival, traveling around the Great Lakes.

And we decided perfect partnership.

And so we pursued the, Tall Ships America organization.

And they did site visit and, agreed that our community would be a great host for the tall ship fleet.

So we hosted our first event in 2001, and we just completed our sixth event in 2016, Back touring the Great Lakes this year.

Tall Ship Celebration, Bay City showcases 12 beautiful Tall Ships, International maritime musicians, activities for children and adults, great food and a whole lot more.

Some of the participating ships made their return to Bay City, while others are visiting for the first time.

In addition to El Galeón Andalucía visiting Bay City for the first time, the list of participating ships includes the Dennis Sullivan, a 99ft three masted schooner based out of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Drakken Herald Holograph, a 115ft single mast Viking longship from Haugesund, Norway.

The Madeleine, a 56ft gaff rigged topsail schooner from Traverse City, Michigan.

In the Midst of Avalon, an 83ft gaff rigged scooter based out of Liverpool, Nova Scotia, Canada, the US brig Niagara, a replica 198ft, two masted square rigger known for being the ship Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry, fled to after his own vessel was sunk during the Battle of Lake Erie, which he won in the War of 1812.

Her homeport is Erie, Pennsylvania.

Pathfinder, a 60ft brigantine from Toronto, Canada.

Playfair, another 60ft brigantine, also out of Toronto, Canada.

Pride of Baltimore II, a 108ft square topsail schooner based out of Baltimore, Maryland.

When and If... a 64ft schooner originally owned by General George S. Patton... whose homeport is New York City, the Appledore IV... a 65ft two masted schooner that calls Bay City home.

And the Appledore V a 58ft two masted schooner currently based out of Key West, Florida.

From the start, the crowds were enormous.

Some folks hurried to get in line to board and tour their favorite ships, while others began their leisurely stroll through the venue, admiring the beauty of these magnificent tall ships.

Tall Ships Celebration brought visitors to Bay City from all over Michigan and beyond.

And they all were really excited to be here visiting my mom.

She's living in Saginaw right now, and, I'm in, I'm from the Saint Louis, Missouri.

And when she picked me up from the airport, she mentioned that this was going on this week and this tall ship celebration.

Oh, let's do it.

Let's do it.

Neat to see all the different ships.

And I watched them build the pride of Baltimore in Baltimore in the 80s.

And so it was really cool to see it here today.

So, yeah, it's really neat.

Everybody in the town is just so friendly.

Doesn't matter where they came from.

Everybody wants to know where you came from and why are you here.

And it's just exciting .

It's an opportunity that you don't get to see very often.

It's just a collection of, you know, some of the greatest tall ships, probably around the U.S.

so we think that's pretty special.

Tall Ships celebration at Bay City was given the special designation of an event of national security by the United States Coast Guard, one of the more interesting meetings that took place because of this special designation was a tabletop exercise facilitated by the Coast Guard out of the Sector Detroit office.

This exercise took place about one month prior to the event.

There was a partnership between local event staff, the Coast Guard, local law enforcement, and the public safety community.

It provided an opportunity for the different groups involved in the event to gather in the same room, meet each other, and talk through possible scenarios and what if's that could arise during an event of this nature, and just how such situations would be handled.

We have, lots of security on site during the event, and we work with a private security firm as well as the Bay City Police Department.

We also work really hard to make sure that the ships and the crew are safe and secure, because this event is a marine event of national significance.

There is a moving security zone around each of the individual tall ships.

Recreational vessels are not allowed to go within a certain distance of them.

And that's, enforced, on the water by the Coast Guard, the sheriff's marine patrol and, you know, other volunteers who are assigned to work with them.

We can't keep, recreational vessels away completely, but they are encouraged to continue moving, not to stop, not to dawdle.

Bay City, despite its relatively small size, is still, I think, the third busiest commercial shipping port in the state of Michigan.

So there is a lot of vessel traffic, including freighters and other commercial vessels.

That cannot be stopped just because we're having a festival new this year.

And a big reason why greater numbers of visitors from all over the state attended the festival was Bay Sails partnership with the Kroger Company, every Kroger store in Michigan, all 129 of them sold Tall Ship Celebration tickets that resulted in huge crowds way beyond our expectations.

Along with the sponsors, another vital part in the success of the Tall Ship event, were the volunteers... we have on average, approximately 500 individuals who volunteer for our event, some of them, including the board of directors, which is all volunteer, start working with us well in advance.

Others work with us only during the weekend and engage directly with our guests.

Part of the reason that I wanted to be involved with the Tall Ship Celebration is it's such a wonderful event for our community, and it's just another activity that draws in people from all over, not only the Great Lakes Bay region, but the entire Midwest to Bay City and all of the wonderful amenities and things that we have to offer here in Bay City, One of the most important volunteer groups we have are those people who work directly with the ships and support the crews, our liaison officers, they start working on Thursday afternoon when the ships arrive, and they do not stop until Monday morning or later.

Well, I volunteer, primarily, because I love tall ships, number one.

But having been from Bay City, born and raised in Bay City, I know it brings a lot of people here.

And they see Bay City for the first time.

I've met people today from all over from, Nebraska, Missouri and Georgia.

DeWitt, Michigan.

They're all there from all over.

That's one of the best things that happens to Bay City.

We have hundreds and hundreds of volunteers.

It's great for people to come in and see everything that we have here.

And it celebrates the history of our community, which is sailing, lumbering, the waterway.

What could be better?

We allow touring of the ships, boarding and touring from 10 a.m.

until 5 p.m.

on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

The opportunity to experience these magnificent tall ships up close has always been a major draw, resulting in huge crowds each day.

Wait times to board the tall ships were anywhere from 30 minutes for some of the smaller vessels to three hours or more for the ships like Drakken and Elk galeon.

But the long wait didn't seem to dampen the enthusiasm of those in line.

What I'm most excited is, to go out on this galeon, and it's the only one in the world, and I've never been on any of the tall ships, so I'm super excited.

I'm here because I'm a pancreatic cancer survivor, and this was my 60th birth year.

And this year I decided to do all kinds of firsts, in fact, 60 firsts.

And this is a first for me.

And you just informed us it's a two hour long to see the Spanish galeon, but that's okay because we came for this and it's a great day and it's pretty cool.

And so why not?

When visitors reach the front of the line, tall ship volunteers stamp their passports with each ship's unique stamp as a souvenir, and once aboard, crew members shared the history of their ship and gladly answered any questions said people asked.

So that's her mast and we'll go Oh yeah, thank you.

Yeah...no worries .

The two most popular ships that drew the most visitors were the Drakken and El Galeón Andalucía... both visiting Bay City for the first time.

There was a lot of drama around the Drakken.

They were originally signed up to go through, go to all of the Great Lakes ports.

And then they canceled... And for a period of time, the media message was that if you were interested in seeing this very unique Viking log boat, in the Great Lakes, you had to come to Bay City because they weren't going to go any farther than Bay City, but it really overwhelmed our admission gates.

We were not expecting that many people to show up.

The Drakken is a replica of ship sailed by Vikings on the North Atlantic.... as early as 1001 AD.

They explored then settled areas of Newfoundland, Canada.

They arrived in North America almost 500 years before Columbus.

When we are sailing you, her purpose is to warn the after steering position about what's going on in the front, because we can't see anything when the sail is set.

So one person is here sending a radio and warning people if there is a log, if there is a iceberg... or if there is a short crossing, our way.

As you have already witnessed, El Galeón Andalucía is a very unique ship.

It also drew huge crowds for a once in a lifetime opportunity to tour this 16th century galeon.

Marshall from our production crew, once again climbed up to the Crow's Nest on El Galeon to set up a camera to capture a timelapse view of those touring El Galeon.

The galeon was a “wow” feeling after we got off of it, something that I had never experienced before.

It's hard to believe that people actually sail on this high as opposed to a cruise ship, you know?

So it's really interesting.

We loved it.

Well, the most interesting thing I found was, ropes on the mast and the way the thing is designed and put together, I think it's incredible.

To help defray their expenses, most of the ships set up tents, which offered books, T-shirts and other items to those who desired souvenirs from their visit to the festival.

In addition to viewing and boarding the tall ships, visitors to the festival had many opportunities to take part in a variety of maritime themed events and activities for all ages.

Welcome to the water all right.

The area most popular with children was Pirates Cove.

Children learn how to talk and dress like a pirate and play pirate games like balloon fencing.

Try their luck on a Jacob's ladder, practice their hand at archery and knife throwing, it all while being entertained by the action packed stage shows performed by the Ring of Steel Action Theater.

When we first started putting together the concept for Tall Ship Celebration, we were very clear that we wanted to promote the story of Bay City's history and shipbuilding history and tall ships on the Great Lakes, which has very little to do with pirates.

So we were a little distressed when pirates started showing up at our festivals and came to understand, after these, you know, many events, that you cannot have a tall ship festival without having pirates.

They just show up.

Another example of how the community becomes engaged in tall ship celebration is, the riverboat tours that are offered by Bay City Boat Lines.

They had a full schedule of dinner cruises and just really quick river tours so that you could get a perspective of the ships from the water.

Musician Bird Davis came all the way from Liverpool, England to perform his maritime music and is having a great time.

This is my first trip to the States.

As it happens, I played in maritime events all over Europe.

I set my foot on the steamboat and I sailed the oceans round was staying on the ocean.

I think it's a super setting here with all the ships on the on the right on the river, and they're accessible to people.

You can get up close to them and go on them.

And, but, you know, quite simply, there's a wonderful festival.

Tall Ship Celebration.

And Bay City is really well known amongst the tall ship crew for, the hospitality that is provided to them.

We're really fortunate that the Dow Bay Area Family Y has agreed to work with us and provide a respite for the crew away from the maddening crowds.

It's a place where they can go to take a shower, use the exercise equipment, play in the pool just to get away from it all, and, relax a little bit.

It's been, I know, very much appreciated.

New this year was a cooking competition called the Galley Throwdown.

We provided a very interesting array of food products to the competing cooks and they created some incredibly good and creative dishes as a result.

In the end, the judges of the competition could not decide between two of the competitors.

And it just happens that we had an extra $500 gift card that we did not use to buy supplies, so each of the two winners got got the prize.

And, they used that money to go to Kroger and conditioner chef before they left for the next board.

The cooking competition, I think, will be a mainstay of our event in the future.

Tall Ships America organization that presents a host port community with, port of the year award, is a real point of pride for a lot of our ports.

And as you can see, Bay City really gets into their port of the year.

They won it three times and and it's been all well deserved.

So it's just it you couldn't ask for a better port.

So we're proud to say that, according to the Tall Ships America, we're the best tossup festival in all of North America.

Well, it was played bigger than I expected.

But it was really fun.

A lot of crowds, a lot of really nice boats.

But just being a part of it and being on the boat was just a great experience.

I love Bay City, love being around the water.

I just love being here today.

The park was really nice and you can't have a better day to be out here.

So we went to the Spanish galeon.

We didn't make it to the other side of the river, but other than waiting a little bit with some good food and enjoy the day.

Never been a Bay City, but it's a it's a great time.

We saw a lot of cool ships.

Yeah.

Good food so far.

Great weather.

Yeah.

It's a beautiful town.

Feels very All-American here.

Yeah, very All-American town.

We like it.

Yeah.

Oh, it's been a long time.

since we have been in Bay City, The town;s nice... Were thinkin they've been good to come back.

& spend the night here and, you know, enjoy it.... But the festival is wonderful.

Oh, we had such a good time.

We were.

We listened to a Polish band over on the Wenonah side and doing Irish music.

It was great.

So much fun.

But their CD was awesome.

One of those most popular activities at Tall Ship Celebration occurs actually after the event closes for the day, and that is “Ballads & Brews” where all of these, incredibly talented international maritime musicians will gather, to entertain us around, Michigan craft beers and, lots and lots of cultural exchange.

-music- When the festival gates closed between 5 and 9 p.m., crew members took the opportunity to get together, relax and unwind.

After a long day of greeting the thousands of visitors that boarded their vessels.

Even though, all of the vessels don't visit all of the ports.

There is a core group of ships that do make every single festival stop.

So you can imagine, after spending the summer together, the kind of relationships that will grow between them and Bay City is no exception.

They had a great party here.

From 9 to 11 p.m., the gates reopened to the public for what was referred to as casual viewing.

Although visitors could not board the ships, they could stroll through the venue and take in the sight of these magnificent tall ships at sunset for free.

As the sun set on Sunday evening.

Another tall ship celebration in Bay City came to a close.

Tomorrow, most of the ships would depart for their next port.

Chicago and Bay City would be left with wonderful memories of what has become the most successful tall ship event ever held in Bay City.

Two ships would remain the Drakken and El Galeón Andalucía both of which chose to stay on for different reasons.

By mid-morning on Monday, the other participating ships had departed Bay City and were headed for the waters off Tawas to take part in a race later in the afternoon, the Drakken, now more next to El Galeón, still did not know whether she would be headed for her next port, Chicago.

The.

Anyway, this had to be here, a couple of extra days because, we have a long queues.

We want to give the opportunity to all of the citizens of Bay City to come on board.

We are trying to raise money for the all of the pilots fees.

Over the extra three days, about $25,000 was raised by our galeon.

People continue to stop by in the evening just to look at the ship.

It sure was a wonderful sight to behold on those beautiful summer evenings at Wenonah Park.

Wednesday morning at about 6:30 a.m., the world's largest Viking ship, the Drakken, left the dock in Bay City and headed downriver towards the bay.

Her crew was able to raise enough funds through a crowdfunding campaign organized by the Sons of Norway to pay for their pilot fees.

And now we're on their way to the Navy Pier in Chicago as the last visiting tall ship remaining in Bay City, El Galeón continued to offer deck tours to visitors on Wednesday and closing the ship at 5 p.m.. The crew began preparations for their departure, which was scheduled for 7 p.m.. A good sized crowd began to assemble in the park to view the ship's departure and to wish our new Spanish friends again, Beyoncé or Bon Voyage, as they continued to travel the Great Lakes.

But first they would make a stop in Traverse City.

Once again, they would be open for public tours to help pay their pilot fees and then head for Chicago.

At about 7 p.m.

with everything set, Fernando threw off the last lines and our galeon Andalusia began to move away from the dock and into the middle of the river.

People waved goodbye and cheered the ship and her crew.

We hope our galeon and her crew enjoy their time here in Bay City as much as we enjoyed having them here.

So as El Galeón Andalucía approached the entrance to Saginaw Bay, we reflected back on our time spent traveling in this 16th century environment.

It really was a once in a lifetime opportunity to travel back in time and experience this one of a kind, historic vessel up close and be welcomed aboard so warmly by her crew.

We will never forget our journey “Sailing Into the Past”.

Farewell, I say to the real world.

We're sailing into the past.

May the good Lord keep us and guide us.

May the wind always be as our back.

We always hope for fair weather.

But we're always braced for a storm.

Do we ever turn back?

No, never.

We press on the sure as we're born.

So, mate, let's pull up the anchor.

The flag flying high on the mast tomorrow's now behind us... were sailing into the past.

We're sailing into the past.

We're sailing in to the past...