After delaying our departure from Chicago by a day due to weather, the Picton Castle finally left Navy Pier and headed out into Lake Michigan on Friday morning. There were some nasty thunderstorms predicted on Thursday and the wind was blowing fairly strongly from the northeast—exactly the direction we were planning to go. In addition […]
Dawn had just broken as I returned home to the Picton Castle after an early morning errand, and somehow the walk down Navy Pier seemed almost tranquil. As I walked past the man with the power washer hosing down the sidewalks, getting ready for another busy day here, I realized why things seemed more calm:
Green Bay is more proud of their football team than any other city could be proud of their local sports team. So proud, in fact, that the Captains’ Breakfast (a big event where the captains of all the tall ships in the festival meet) was held at Lambeau Field, home of the Green Bay Packers.
We left Bay City as scheduled on Monday morning, and we were sad to leave. The whole crew had a fantastic time there, and we found the people of Bay City to be amongst the friendliest anywhere. We have fond memories of our ship liaisons, the volunteers at the event, good-humored crowds who toured the
The Picton Castle has had an astounding welcome into Bay City, Michigan, up on the west side of Lake Huron, as they hosted their third Tall Ship event. Situated up the meandering Saginaw river, it is a maze of navigation through lift bridges, and people lined the way as the ships came into Bay City
In these Great Lakes it’s been quite a learning curve for both the old and new crew of the Barque Picton Castle. The old crew are experiencing new maritime challenges and aspects of sailing the ship up the seaway, big huge lakes, and the favorite—HUGE HAIRY thunderstorms. The old crew are now the teachers and
Life on board the Picton Castle has been very busy in the past week. Usually we are busy at sea with sail handling, workshops and maintenance projects but over the past week we have been a different kind of busy with the end of the St. Lawrence Seaway, a quick stop in Erie, Pennsylvania, and
The past few days have been very busy on the Picton Castle as we have passed through the locks on the St. Lawrence River. We reached the anchorage area east of Montreal around 1000 on Friday, passed the required inspection before transiting the locks, and were heading across the Montreal harbour towards the first lock
St. Lawrence Seaway between Quebec City and MontrealShortly after 0300 this morning the Picton Castle anchored off Quebec City and said goodbye to Francois and Benoit, our pilots from Escoumin. I awoke this morning to a beautiful view of this historic city, founded in 1608. The Chateau Frontenac, the famous castle-like hotel with a green
This morning at 0700 the Picton Castle took on two pilots at Escoumin who will be with us until we reach Quebec City tomorrow morning. Any vessel over 500 gross tons, as well as any foreign flag vessel over 100 feet long, must use the services of a pilot while in the St. Lawrence Seaway.
