While our tenure as a ship's captain was short lived, as we didn't know how to tack and ended up drifting downwind until our angry father found us and rescued us from a beaching on Seattle's Seward Park. Since then we've relegated ourselves to mate status, and generally just try not to drown, knock anyone overboard or tie knots without proper supervision.

But that doesn't mean that we've lost our love for all things sailing. We catch ourselves staring out the window of a car speeding along the Bay Bridge at the little boats flecking the Bay, and daydream how much more pleasant the crossing would be on a sunny day sipping wine and eating oysters on the prow of some sleek vessel.

And what better to remind us of our love of all things wind-powered than the fleet of drop-dead gorgeous ships from around the world that descended on San Francisco Bay today. You can check them out all weekend as part of the Pacific Rim Foundation's "Sail San Francisco 2005." And if you're just desperate for a tour of the bay by sail, contact the Pacific Rim Foundation at 415-673-5330 and see if it isn't too late to book a trip on one of these beautiful relics.

Photo by Thomas Hawk.