DULUTH 鈥� Despite a soaking rain that started the day, the Parade of Sail proceeded as planned Thursday. Spectators lined the piers of the Duluth Ship Canal as nine sailing ships proceeded under the Aerial Lift Bridge to tie up in the harbor for the 2025 Festival of Sail.
"It's weather. We deal with it," said Ben Hale, captaining the schooner Alliance. At 10:20 a.m., Hale was standing at the wheel of his vessel under sail in Lake Superior, navigating around the other tall ships and waiting for the parade to begin.
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Hale was watching the radar for any atmospheric signs of concern, but the early-morning storm system that lashed Duluth with rain and thunder had blown clear.
"Lightning is the biggest issue," said Hale. "It's not comfortable being the most pointy thing on a huge expanse of flat water."
There were an unusually large number of pointy things out on the lake Thursday, as the triennial Festival of Sail returned to Duluth. In 2022, the festival due to planned
That work was shown off to fine effect Thursday, as the tall ships maneuvered into place behind the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center. Spectators lounged in Adirondack chairs on a landscaped plaza, casting eyes up at the 65-foot platform erected for a professional high-diving exhibition.
"Really excited to be in Duluth," said Rachel Ratliff, volunteer coordinator with the Inland Seas Education Association, the Michigan nonprofit that owns the Alliance. The three-masted schooner, with a rig height of 63 feet, was built in 1995 and acquired by ISEA in 2022.
"Getting to see the lake life around here is exciting," continued Ratliff, speaking with the News Tribune as the Alliance prepared to push off for the parade. "We just got to go to the aquarium yesterday. A riot! I loved it. I touched a sturgeon. It was awesome."
On the Alliance for Thursday morning's sail were several crew members and educators, along with paying passengers who purchased Parade of Sail tickets through the festival.
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"It's an iconic thing to do in the summertime," said Jeff Egge, of Minneapolis, sitting near the ship's bow with his wife, Eileen. "The history, the lore."
The Egges were attending their fourth Northland tall ships festival, and Jeff Egge said their experience in Two Harbors was "outstanding." Acknowledging Thursday's overcast skies, he added, "the weather does help ... (in 2022) it was a beautiful day."
Kari and Corey Henkelman, of Fargo, North Dakota, came to Duluth on a trip celebrating the graduation of the youngest of their four children.
"It's been awesome," said Kari Henkelman, leaning against a rail on the deck of the Alliance. "We don't live by any big water."
Below deck, in a bunk-lined cabin, Ratliff used a microscope and video monitor to teach passengers about plankton pulled from the harbor.
Ratliff explained as she maneuvered a water sample beneath the lens: "50 to 70% of atmospheric oxygen is because of phytoplankton in the lakes and oceans of the world. We think of trees because we're right next to them, but gosh darn, these phytoplankton are just out here keeping us breathing!"
Like most tall ships seen at events such as the Festival of Sail, the Alliance serves a primarily educational mission.
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"We're traditionally rigged," Ratliff told the News Tribune, pointing out that passengers lend a hand in raising the sails. "You have to feel proud as you look at all the other vessels and know that you got to participate in making sure the sailing got to happen."
"We are going to set our sails as we are going under the bridge, which is going to be kind of sick," said first mate Avery Innis-Skinner, using that last word in a positive sense. "We'll have one team over here on the peak halyard, one team over here on the throat halyard."
As planned, the Alliance was raising sail just as it passed through the ship canal heading out to the lake. Scattered groups of viewers already lined the piers to watch the tall ships' departure around 10 a.m.; by the time the parade back into the harbor officially began at 11 a.m., a dense crowd had gathered in front of the
Hale, who brought a ship home from the 2019 Festival of Sail but "didn't really participate in the festival" that year, was glad to be back in Duluth.
"What piqued my interest is, geographically it's a beautiful place, but it (also) seems to have a good music scene," he said. A fiddler himself, Hale said he's a fan of and Charlie Parr.
Asked by a passenger what he does in the winter, the captain said he spends those months working on the ISEA's two boats, the Alliance and the Inland Seas. "I compare what we do to a Broadway show," he explained. "The two hours that you sit and enjoy is just a tiny bit of the work."
The parade began promptly at 11 a.m., with the Aerial Lift Bridge rising for the first "flight" of ships, led by the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Sundew. Followed by the Inland Seas, the Alliance led the second flight.
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"The bridge will start to go up at 11:30, but let's see if we can be a little bit tighter on our timeline and be a little closer than the first flight was to the (canal)," a parade coordinator said over the ship's radio.
As the Alliance approached the canal, it was running downwind. "Jibe the main over," Hale told his crew. "We'll try to go wing and wing."
Subtly, Hale activated the boat's motor to add some speed. "I was hoping we'd be able to do the whole thing under sail," he said, "but I see that bridge waiting for us."
Lake Avenue motorists doubtless appreciated the consideration as the Alliance passed beneath the Lift Bridge and returned to the carnival atmosphere of the harbor.
Behind the Inland Seas, the schooner When and If 鈥� "General Patton's yacht," as Hale pointed out 鈥� fired a signal cannon in salute.
After making a wide turn past the DECC, the Alliance pulled into its designated docking spot east of Minnesota Slip and the crew hastened to secure its lines. Festival attendees on shore watched and waited, eager to step on board for tours.
"It's cool to get to hang out with these other tall ships, and we kind of get to see who we're gonna be hanging out with for the week," Ratliff said about the Parade of Sail. "It's a fun culture tucked away on these boats."
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This story was edited at 9:56 p.m. on July 10 to correct a description of a fender in a photo caption. It was edited again at 8:40 a.m. on July 11 to correct the name of the Inland Seas Education Association. It was originally posted at 5:34 p.m. on July 10. The News Tribune regrets the errors.
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