Minutes later the foresail is up, then the two jibs. The sixty-five foot wooden schooner turns gently, wind fills her sails, and the captain cuts the engines. Stage Fort Park passes on our right. We tack and sail toward Ten Pound Island and its lighthouse. Small waves slap against the hull as it rises and falls ever so gently with the motion of the sea.
Quiet conversations begin around the deck.
Owners Tom and Kay Ellis mingle with their guests, ready to answer our questions or just chat. Schooner Lannon is new and old. She was built in Essex by Harold Burnham, an eleventh generation boat builder who based her design on the Nokomis built in 1903. Essex County Greenbelt, The Trustees of Reservations, and local landowners donated wood. Masts, gaffs, and booms, for example, came from Eastern white spruce felled on Hog Island.