Lens Harbor

This summer offers a cool opportunity to see tall ships in action during the Tall Ships® Atlantic Challenge 2009.  It’s a series of tall ship races on a 7,000 mile course around the North Atlantic Ocean that follows the routes used when tall ships ruled the seas.  The race began in Vigo, Spain, last month and the Dutch vessel Tecla won the first race to the Canary Islands.  Now the fleet is racing to Hamilton, Bermuda.

There are 5 more stops in port cities along the course with multi-day tall ship festivals held in each city.  In addition to watching the ships sail in and out, events at each port typically include ship tours, dock parties and lots of fun, food & music.   These make for a fun date or family outing and can be educational at the same time.

Check the list below for more info on each port’s festival…
Hamilton, Bermuda June 11-15, 2009
Charleston, SC, USA June 26-29, 2009
Boston, MA, USA July 8-13, 2009
Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada July 16-20, 2009
Belfast, Ireland August 13-16, 2009

Unfortunately, I won’t be able to attend any of the festivals this year…bummer.

If you can’t attend either, but would like to check out a tall ship then here’s a list of tall ships you can tour.  If you’re land locked far away from port you can try watching a good tall ship movie to get your fix.  And, for the more adventurous, you could sign up to join a tall ship crew as a trainee.

My wife and I are preparing to run in the Washington DC leg of The Great Urban Race on Saturday. Yeah, I never heard of it either until last month. It’s basically a mini version of The Amazing Race (one of our favorite shows) where you compete against other teams to complete tasks across the city.

As a lensmaster, part of my preparation naturally involved building a lens. I’ll update it afterwards with tips and stories from our experience on the race.

After DC, the race hits Chicago, Portland, the Twin Cities, Austin and San Diego before the National Championships in Las Vegas. If you live near any of those cities and want something different and fun to do, then give it a go.