PORT ANGELES — Betsy Carter missed the Victoria Tall Ships Festival over the weekend.
“I could do without the crowds of people,” Carter said, explaining why she didn’t make the trek to Victoria for the American Sail Training Association-sanctioned event.
But the Port Angeles resident made sure not to miss the arrival of several tall ships that made port of entry into the United States at Port Angeles on Monday afternoon.
Many of the ships were planning to make their way to Port Townsend by early today, including the Lady Washington, Privateer Lynx and Bill of Rights, which onloaded passengers at City Pier to Port Townsend.
They were scheduled to tie up at Port Townsend on Monday night.
Others are due at Port Townsend, too, as the Tall Ships Challenge 2005, which gathered before more than 20,000 paying customers in Victoria last weekend, continues to Tacoma on Wednesday.
View from Ediz Hook
Armed with binoculars and a sweater to fend off a chilly breeze Monday afternoon, Carter perched herself on one of the big rocks piled up near the end of Ediz Hook to gaze at the small flotilla of tall ships floating south.
Led by Russia’s Pallada and Mexico’s Cuauhtemoc — each with masts towering more 147 feet — the sailing vessels left Victoria on Monday morning and raced into Port Angeles, pausing on the Canadian side of the border to allow a U.S. Navy submarine to transit west on the U.S. side.
Both the Pallada and the Cuauhtemoc docked at Port of Port Angeles piers, where officials boarded the ships for customs.
In the early evening, dozens of Mexican sailors from their 270-foot wooden ship walked through downtown Port Angeles on liberty.
The Russian sailors apparently stayed aboard their 356-foot ship, one of the world’s largest sailing vessels.