Tall ships: 5 ways to blow your hair back this summer

Story highlights

  • Summer packs a boatload of thrilling tall ship events
  • Tall Ships Challenge spans the Great Lake states from June through September
  • San Diego hosts West Coast's largest tall ship festival with star of "Master and Commander"
  • Florida offers chance to see Spanish navy training tall ship Juan Sebastian de Elcano
First, let's take a moment to appreciate the tall ships.
1. Tall Ships Challenge, Great Lakes region
This is the captain of American sailing events.
2. Festival of Sail, San Diego
They say it's the West Coast's largest tall ship festival.
And in the California tradition, it's got a movie star.
Also check out the parade, fun pirate culture and memorabilia.
The Surprise shares the festival spotlight with another legendary tall ship: the Californian, a 145-foot replica of a cutter designed to catch smugglers during the 1840s Gold Rush.
It's named the Juan Sebastian de Elcano, and what sets this tall ship apart is its immense size.
It's damned long: 370 feet. That's longer than an American football field.
Only two other tall ships in the world are larger.
It's tall, too. Its four masts stretch nearly 160 feet into the sky. That's about as high as a 16-story building.
This training vessel for navy midshipmen in Spain's Naval Academy gets around. It has circumnavigated the globe 10 times since its first launch in 1927.
The Juan Sebastian de Elcano is named after the first commander to sail around the world in the 16th century. (De Elcano's captain, Ferdinand Magellan, was killed in the Philippines and didn't complete the voyage.)
The ship will be in Miami to help Florida celebrate 500 years since Europeans discovered what's now the Sunshine State. The vessel is scheduled to anchor at the Port of Miami from May 1-6 with special events at nearby Bicentennial Park. The ship is scheduled to stop at Port Canaveral, Florida, on May 8-10.
4. Toshiba Tall Ships Festival, Dana Point, California
This festival kicks off on September 6, with a parade of nine tall ships sailing from South Laguna to Dana Point Harbor, cannons blazing. The weekend continues with on board tours, concerts, pirate and marine science educational events.
They say she's the real deal -- a piece of history.
Back in 1877 craftsmen shipwrights in Aberdeen, Scotland, laid the iron hull for a three-masted sailing gem that would be christened Elissa.
Now 136 years later, Elissa is a full-fledged Texan and is billed as one of the longest continuously sailed ships in the country, if not the world.
At full speed, Elissa unfurls 19 sails.
Like all full-rigged tall ships, Elissa has a multitude of rope lines that run the masts from top to bottom. "I love the complexity of that system -- being able to, by hand, put together a sailing ship and keep it stable and safely sailing," said ship's bosun Mark Scibinico.
The 205-foot ship recently underwent a major overhaul to repair plating to its hull, which suffered damage in 2008 from Hurricane Ike. Now it's as good as new, Scibinico said.
Elissa relies on volunteer crews to run its paces. Day sails are offered in the spring and fall.
Here's to a great summer, sailors -- may the wind be at your back and the skies red at night.