This past weekend was the [Gloucester Schooner Festival](http://www.capeannvacations.com/schooner/). Since we were all up in Townsend for the weekend, we missed it… or did we? In fact, due to the rain on Sunday, many of the events were postponed to Labor Day! So on Monday, Becky, Catherine and I headed up to [Gloucester](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gloucester%2C_Massachusetts) to take in the events.
First, we watched the Parade of Sail, where a bevy of lovely schooners sailed past the Fisherman’s Statue to the delight of onlookers. The event was emceed by a hilarious old fellow, who had plenty of knowledge and color commentary about each ship as it went past.
ppp|
|ppp
[See all the pics from the Parade of Sail](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/events/2006/gloucester_schooner_festival/parade_of_sail/).
After the Parade, there was a demonstration by the [US Coast Guard](http://www.uscg.mil/uscg.shtm) of an air-sea rescue. A helicopter dropped a swimmer into the water, and then simulated a “rescue”, lowering itself very close to the surface of the water, and then dropping a rescue swimmer in. He used a loop attached to a line to hoist the “victim” up into the helicopter. Quite impressive.
ppp|
|ppp
[See all of the rescue demonstration pics here](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/events/2006/gloucester_schooner_festival/rescue_demonstration/).
Finally, we boarded a shuttle boat to visit the [USS Doyle](http://www.doyle.navy.mil/), a Navy Fast Frigate that was docked offshore in Gloucester for the weekend. Besides being a fun boat ride out, it was extremely cool to get to tour a working military vessel.
ppp|
|ppp
[See all of the Doyle pics here](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/events/2006/gloucester_schooner_festival/uss_doyle/).
Catherine handled the whole day pretty well. She actually slept through our entire tour of the Doyle, just as she did on the [Friendship](http://prwdot.org/2006/08/29/long-hill-and-the-friendship/)!
It seems as though we’re starting to make a habit out of this visiting ships thing… but time and time again, it turns out to be one of the most interesting and fun things to do, and we’ve never had to pay to get on board any of the ships we’ve visited!