Boston OpSail 2012
This is USCGC Eagle. She was in Boston as part of OpSail 2012, and she escorted the USS Constitution on her annual turnaround cruise in the harbor. (The Constitution, aka Old Ironsides, lives in the Charlestown Navy Yard, and spends the rest of the year moored there as an educational tool and tourist destination. She is turned around every year to point the opposite direction so that she weathers evenly.)
The Constitution just gets tugged out and back. She doesn't sail anymore, and I suspect there are a number of reasons for that, among them that her crew does not necessarily know how to sail a tall ship, even though they are active duty naval personnel, and also because her decks are full of spectators (there is a lottery for a place on her) during the cruise, which would make working her very difficult.
But as you can see, the Eagle came back into the harbor under sail. Just her staysails, but still. She sailed. I saw a tall ship under sail, and yes, my eyes teared up on seeing it.
What you possibly can't see, except vaguely if you're looking, is that there were members of the crew at the ends of all of the yards, just standing there as she came into the harbor. I wish I could be that cool, seriously.
We got really lucky with our timing, too. We were at the Navy Yard to watch them go out, and then we hopped on the T and went to the Fish Pier where the other tall ships from OpSail were berthed, arriving just in time to see them coming back in, which is when I snapped that picture.
We also got to see the Blue Angels do a bit of flying, which... it takes a special kind of crazy to be one of those pilots, I'm pretty sure. We didn't actually go on any of the ships, because the lines were long and I was at the end of my rope with heat and crowds. It was still fun, though.
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