Monday, March 30, 2009

Key West Schooners


Although not intended primarily as a paddling trip, my recent trip to the southern USA did get me out to the end of the Florida Keys. If you have never been to that part of the world, it's definitely worth seeing for several reasons.

One of those reasons is the chance to go sailing on a schooner. Once a common sight along the east coast of North American, not many still exist, especially ones which will take a person out for a day's sail on the water. In Key West, there are several schooners available for half and full day trips to outer keys. I didn't sail on the one in the photo above, but did go in another similar boat. It featured a 'swing-keel' which enabled it to be sailed into water as shallow as 28 inches! We didn't try it, but the easy motion and highly variable rig made sailing these boats lots of fun.

1 comment:

Silbs said...

You, my friend, are living large. It doesn't get much better than that.