The Nina and Santa Clara

We studied US History through 1850ish this year (Sonlight Core 3, CC Cycle 3) so when replicas of Columbus' ships came to the St. Augustine City Pier we had to visit them! I was expecting them to be quite big (ok, huge in my mind) but really they were astonishingly small! They crossed the Atlantic in THESE?!!?

Here you can see the two boats from bow to stern.


Preparing to board. See the square-rigged sails? We were told they were designed for downwind sailing only. Remember that Columbus didn't have an engine, so if he was relying on sailing when the wind was at your back, then no wonder it took so long to reach the new world!


The gal you see in the background is one of the crew. She has been on board for two years. This is the Nina. The Santa Clara, (on the right of the picture, port to this boat) which is also called the Pinta, had about 30 crew on board in Columbus' time. We were told the men lived on deck, and that the hold (down below) was for storing supplies, food and animals. THIS deck! Notice the lack of shelter... Columbus' quarters were behind the tender (small board stored on the deck). There was one hatch that went down below (the only ventilation) and only 4 ft headroom. I was surprised to see the large tiller beneath the poop deck. I always pictured them steering the boat with a big wheel ON the poop deck (think: pirate ship) but that was not the case with these two boats. The current crew is 7 onboard the Santa Clara and although it is a replica it does have cabins, an engine, radar, GPS, etc. So this crew isn't roughing it too badly. We chatted with one guy on the Santa Clara who had just boarded the ship in Sebastian. They are still looking for crew if anyone is interested...
Checking out the stern of the boat. See the size of those blocks? The boat is all block rigged so that no one has to climb up to let down the sails. That came later apparantly. This visit to the boats really made the book Pedro's Journal come to life!

Care to visit? Here is the 2009 schedule. Check and see if they are somewhere near you!

DATES	PORT	LOCATION
Feb. 3 - Feb. 15	San Diego, Ca	Kona Kai Marina, Shelter Island
Mar. 12 - Mar 15	Republic of Panama	Flamingo Yacht Club
Apr. 15 - Apr. 21	Stuart, FL	Harborage Yacht Club & Marina
Apr. 24 - May 3	Daytona, FL	Inlet Harbor Marina
May 6- May 17	St. Augustine, Fl	City Marina
May 22 - May 25	Beaufort, N.C.	Maritime Museum
May 29 - May 31	Lewes, Delaware	City Docks
June 5 - June 7	Kingston, New York	Maritime Museum
June 19- June 21	Oswego, New York	West Pier adjacent to maritime museum
June 26 - June 28	Algonac, Mi	Clay Township Historical Society
July 2nd - July 5	Alpena, Mi	Great Lakes Maritime Heritage Center
July 9 - July 12	Petosky, Mi	Petosky City Marina
July 16 - July 19	Muskegon, Mi	Heritage Landing
July 22 - July 26	Marinette, Wi	Nest Egg Marina
July 29 - Aug 2	Waukegan, Illinois	Waukegan Harbor
August 5 - Aug 9	South Haven, Mi	Maritime Museum
Aug 12- Aug 16	Chicago	Navy Pier