Tall Ships 2011? The party can get even better

It’s not a certainty, but it’s a good bet the American Sail Training Association’s Tall Ships Challenge will return to Tacoma in 2011. Organizers here are stoked for another run, but they have to see how the money worked out and whether a three-peat is feasible.

ASTA also has a process. The training association sends out a request for proposals to cities along the race route. Cities respond with letters of interest. ASTA and the cities work to recruit ships. Tacoma, for example, mobilized its congressional delegation to lobby for U.S.C.G. barque Eagle.

Jonathan Harley, ASTA’s race director, said the combination of festivals in Victoria, B.C., Tacoma and Port Alberni, B.C., worked well in 2005, seems to be doing the same again this year and would be a reasonable combination in 2011.

“I think the chances are excellent,” he said of the odds that Tacoma will host Tall Ships again in three years.

So let’s go. Let’s start planning a party that tops the one we’re already missing.

Through all the fun of Tall Ships we kept alert for things that could have gone better.

It’s not that we’re grumpy. We probably had more fun than anyone during the festival. But we’re always looking for ways to make a great thing even more exhilarating and accessible.

With Tall Ships, that list is short.

If you want a long list, look at what was done impeccably: transportation to and through the festival on free buses. Free access to the festival. A good, long stroll through a mix of high-quality vendors and entertainers. Ships under sail in Commencement Bay three times a day. An army of well-trained, cheery volunteers ready to answer any question. Ships’ services, including showers, laundry and delivery of fresh fruit and vegetables that kept crews in awe of Tacoma’s thoughtfulness and generosity.

With all that in mind, here are five humble proposals:

 • Take the battle sail ships out of the boarding pass pool.

The Lynx, the Lady Washington, the Amazing Grace and the Hawaiian Chieftain sailed three-hour battle cruises three times a day. Families with kids stood in line for over an hour to see them, then got steamed as the ships loaded up excursion passengers and left the dock.

Better to moor them all together with free viewing. Volunteer docents, preferably in period dress, would be trained to host the ships, should the captains wish to give crews a break. People willing to risk the wait would know they might not make it on board. If they don’t, they would be out time, but not money.

 • Put a countdown clock in every boarding pass sales booth to tell customers how much time they have to see the ships.

 • Maintain a prominent line tracker at every boarding pass sales booth. Volunteers had excellent communications for this festival. Next time, the people managing boarding lines should be in regular contact with the pass booths, where staff would update white boards with estimated wait times for specific ships. The information would be clearer, fresher and more useful than it was this year. Customers would be better able to plan the order in which they want to see the ships. Lines might even move more quickly.

 • Put a Pierce Transit booth, with interpreters if necessary, by every Class A sail training ship. Should we be fortunate enough to get a return visit from, say, Russia’s Pallada, the 100-plus cadets could walk to the booth, tell a Russian speaker they want to go to the mall, and get verbal directions and a written guide to the bus routes there and back. Eagle cadets reported that they wanted to know more about how to get around on public transit.

 • Give Pierce Transit bus passes to every crew member. Thanks to federal regulations banning free rides on public transportation, this would likely require grant funding. But it would get crews away from the festival, spreading Tall Ships’ economic impact, and cheer, all over Pierce County.

Kathleen Merryman: 253-597-8677

kathleen.merryman @thenewstribune.com