It was a belated Xmas present for my oldest daughter.
Pretty cool. The sails are called "sheets" and the rope is called a "line". You heave on the line to lift the sheets (working as a team and yelling out "heave!"), and you ease the line from the other side to enable the pulley to work. My soft lawyer's hands are rough today from handling rope. (Don't get too giddy, gentlemen.)
I went out on the bow spar called a "bowsprit" and looked down through the net at the ocean below, and then turned back and walked towards the bow. That was really cool. Then, I went up the mainmast and checked out the view. Not so keen on heights but y'know do it anyway, right? The woman ahead of me lost her nerve and had to come back down, which meant I hung onto the rigging for about 20 minutes long than I should have, which was awesome.
We said past container ships, a superyacht, a ferry or two, got some salt water in my face, felt like a much more manly version of Leonardo di Caprio on Titanic if only because I hadn't shaved and had the silver facial year of an old sea dog.
We only sailed 3 hours, but really good fun.
Arrr.
