The Masts of Gamla Stan...

Brigs, ketches, schooners and barks! During the Tall Ships Race visit, the ancient heart of Stockholm, called Gamla Stan (Old Town), was a delightful thicket of sailing craft large and small.

There was actually quite a group of square-rigged vessels there including two of my favorites--the Russian Shatandart and Stockholm's own Tre Kronor.

But the quay along Gamla Stan was mostly schooner territory...and lovely ones were they....

It was a fantastic place to go just to gaze into the mess of overlapping rigging (that only the dumbed seagulls attempted to fly through....one failed)...

...to admire the beautifully maintained brightwork (the spars were like mirrors!)

...and just walk up the line, drooling at one schooner after another.

Before you laugh too hard, I'll have you know I was far from the only one captivated by 'The Masts of Gamla Stan'. The area was mobbed with people at all hours....

...even attracting a throng of reporters. This one came from Dagens Nyheter, Stockholm's biggest news group.

Oh my, they were stunning! These Baltic schooners with their broad, round hulls were quite something.

The outboard one of the two was the Seute Deerne II, a Gaff-rigged ketch from Germany. Oy....

Or there was this lovely Baltic ketch draped in Tall Ships Race flags going back to the 1970s--a long time participant.

It was an amazing sight, all that classic rigging, the reek of fresh pine tar, the signal flags snapping in the breeze, the lap of wavelets, and groan of mooring lines.....Heaven on Earth!

Speaking of Heaven, I'll leave you with this curvacious pair of Swedish schooners....

And with this shot in particular, for everyone knows the rear end of just about anything Swedish looks fantastic!