Tall Ships Take a Bow : Crew members learn the ropes as graceful Pilgrim meets two other vessels at sea.

By THAO HUA

Jan. 12, 1997 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

DANA POINT — The tall ship Pilgrim’s midday sail Saturday was as graceful as the descent of debutante down spiral stairs. But in this case, every step depended on the muscles of about 25 crew members, each like a different part of a powerful engine.

The sailors of the Pilgrim, a replica of a 19th century brig, put their talents to work Saturday in a well-orchestrated rendezvous with two other tall ships about 12 miles from Dana Point Harbor.

“In the beginning, it’s a little bit like a Chinese fire drill, or organized chaos, you might say,” said Doug Corey, the sailing master. “When they come on board, they come as individuals, but then they turn into a crew before my eyes. It’s wonderful.”

The ship departed Dana Point Harbor at about 9:30 a.m. Sailing the opposite way from Santa Catalina Island’s Avalon Harbor were the Lady Washington, a 112-foot replica of an 18th century tall ship named after Martha Washington, and the Hawaiian Chieftain, a reproduction of a 1790s trading vessel.

Like antiques on water, the ships are built almost entirely of wood with sails controlled by ropes, said Dan Stetson, spokesman for the Orange County Marine Institute, which organized Saturday’s maritime meeting.

The 130-foot Pilgrim, built in Denmark around 1945, is owned by the Orange County Marine Institute and used primarily for educational programs. But the ship does set sail a few times a year, and Saturday was one of those crowd-pleasing occasions.

The vessel has 143 rope lines regulating 14 sails, and deck hands must know the names of each line by heart.

Between bow and stern, crew members speak in terms of boatswain (pronounced “bo-sun”), chanteys and ratlines. A boatswain is the crew member in charge of ship maintenance, chanteys are work songs that differ with each particular task and ratlines are rope ladders leading up to the ship’s mast.

“You literally learn a new language here,” said Corey, who has sailed on half of about a dozen tall ships anchored in the United States.

On land, Corey is a market analyst for an aerospace company. But at sea, he is a gruff sailor.

On Saturday, his power tie gave way to a red-and-white bandanna. Instead of the four white walls, there were the sea and the sky.

And as the man “who sets it all in motion,” Corey didn’t just give orders, he barked them.

The orders echoed down the chain of command until they reached people like Bob Kelley, 36, a Long Beach television producer who is a “whipping boy” on board. Kelley is at the beginning of his training as a crew member and usually performs tasks such as securing sails and running supplies.

In between shifts, or “legs,” Kelley and other sailors talked shop, read books or ate sandwiches and clam chowder prepared by the ship’s cook.

Chris Pecharka preferred to spend his time playing a few tunes on his flute, pacing himself by tapping his left foot. Pecharka is known among crew members as “the artist.” He wore a beret over his strawberry blond hair, which was pulled back into a ponytail, and dark sunglasses.

On his cue, a dozen men ascended the ratlines to set sail, each harnessed to the ship with a rope around his shoulders and waist. Then, again at Pecharka’s direction, crew members scurried to tighten or loosen the lines, depending on the wind.

“Ready on main mast?” he yelled. “OK, haul away.”

About 12 miles out to sea, the Pilgrim greeted the Chieftain and the Lady Washington with cannon salutes, and the three vessels sailed back to the Dana Point Harbor side by side, like old friends.

Along the route, sailboats a tenth of their size zipped by for a look or a photo opportunity. Many followed the vessels to the harbor.

When the ships approached the dock at about 4 p.m., dozens cheered them to shore.

“We made it,” said John Ross, the ship’s chief engineer. “We’re home.”