Tall Ships coming into town
Tall ships, and a couple not so tall, are invading San Francisco Bay this week, complete with pirate fights, cannonades, souvenir T-shirts and five days of organized swashbuckling.
Fifteen sailing ships of the sort that Columbus and Long John Silver called home will parade beneath the Golden Gate Bridge at noon today and then lower their gangplanks to welcome the public.
It's called the Festival of Sail and it's being billed as an "international nautical celebration" by the San Francisco Maritime National Park Association, which is hosting the party.
-- Who will be there: Among the ships calling on San Francisco will be the 145-foot-long Californian, complete with four cannons, and the 295-foot-long Eagle, a Coast Guard training vessel and the only commissioned tall ship in the U.S. military. Others are the Nina, Bounty, Gas Light, Gold Star and Lynx.
Along with the tall ships, a few of San Francisco's shorter stalwarts managed to slip into the festival, including the submarine Pampanito, the fireboat Phoenix, the World War II Liberty ship Jeremiah O'Brien and a pair of Hornblower dinner cruise vessels. In addition, the huge container ship Singapore is part of the party. It carries no sails, but it does carry 5,000 cargo containers.
-- What's on tap: After the Parade of Sail, the ships will tie up at three "villages" - one at Hyde Street Pier, one near the Ferry Building and one near Piers 30 and 32. There will be private parties, public tours, excursion rides, mock sea battles, black-tie dinners with ships' captains and classes for would-be pirates.
What it costs: Looking at the ships from shore is free. Boarding them costs $10 if the boat stays at the dock and a lot more than that if the boat actually goes someplace. A quick excursion ride on the bay costs $85 and a longer ride during the Parade of Sail costs as much as $200.