My world today

[neilinov]

Well it's Nascar week here in DE and there is no shortage of Nascar fans here. Other than the race there is some interesting things going on. Last night we had two replicas of Christopher Columbus's ships pull into port. The Nina and the Pinta. I decided to pull the kids out of school to go have a look at some living history. The Nina is rated as the #1 historical recreation of a sailing ship in the world. It was built by hand in Brazil using only tools that were available back in the 1400's Pretty amazing stuff. I spoke with the crew and they just brought these ships up from Florida. They got caught in that storm last week and took a beating all the way here. They mostly ran the ditch so you may have seen them pass by. Anyway here are some photos of the ships docked down at the town dock in Lewes.

[giantfan]

Very cool, thanks for sharing.

[clt_capt]

Very cool for the kids.

[Robja]

Very nice. You know when you get on one of those replicas you really have to admire the guts and determination it took to hop on one of those and cross the Atlantic.

[gottaflylee]

Wow, this is very cool...the 6th picture down really shows how they were built. Thanks for taking the time to share this with us. Great pictures...

[neilinov]

Very nice. You know when you get on one of those replicas you really have to admire the guts and determination it took to hop on one of those and cross the Atlantic.

I tell you it gives you a whole new appreciation of what they did. The Nina was the ship that Columbus captained. It was:
Deck length - 65'
Beam - 18'
Draft - 7'
Tonnage - 75
Sail Area - 1919 sq ft and everyone lived and slept on deck. The hold of the ship was reserved for food and supplies. Can you imagine running into some of the storms off of the Bahamas and sleeping on deck on one of those things. The Pinta was a little bigger at:
Deck length - 85'
Beam - 23'
Draft - 7.5'
Tonnage - 101
Sail Area - 3800 sq ft

Not exactly living in the lap of luxury. You would have to be truly committed to discovery to undertake that passage. Here's a link to their website that shows some interesting facts.

http://www.thenina.com/

[Avenger]

Very interesting pics. Thanks for sharing.

I can't imagine trying to cross an ocean in one of those.

Truly the days of wooden ships and iron men...... with solid brass b@!!s.

[gradywhite273]

did you run into my dad over there, he was there too.

[neilinov]

did you run into my dad over there, he was there too.

No I didn't see him. When we were there it was packed full of tours from shields elementary.

One other exciting thing happening in my world today is my Brother's wife went into labor. Hopefully by this time tomorrow I will be an uncle. He's half way around the world in Kaui so I wish him luck!