The Nina Visits
Petaluma
Aug. 23, 2008
The sailor who took our tickets at the top of the gang plank didn't quite have the hard-eyed look of a seasoned salt. His wide eyes gave him away, made him look more like someone who had just been chosen from the audience to play in a game show. Turns out, his story wasn't far off of that: he had seen an ad in a Sacramento newspaper, advertising for crew to go to sea in a replica of one of Columbus' ships. Didn't they want experienced sailors? "Actually, they didn't ask for any sailing experience. They said that sailing this is so different, they have to un-train sailors and teach them from scratch. Everything's different." Like the sails, which instead of being pulled up, drop down.
What a great way to spend his sabbatical. The Nina is sailing around various ports of the Bay, and then out the Golden Gate and down the California coast.
