Windjamming Maine!

For the generation that I come from, "windjamming" is what you did on an air guitar on Saturday night in your dorm room while listening to Led Zeppelin. Fortunately for the cultured world, there is a longer and more storied tradition. In fact, "windjamming" refers to the prosaic art of sailing on tall masted sailing ships known as schooners. An experienced windjammer is called a "rusticator," a man or woman about as windblown and weathered as the term sounds. And as Detroit is the place to "rust," and Las Vegas the place to "fornicate," so Maine is the place to "rusticate"--as this non-historical, promotional video relentlessly points out. Clearly meant to generate excitement for the windjamming industry, and for Maine itself, the video attempts to define the difference between traveling by cruise ship and "sailing." On a windjammer, you are "camping at sea," helping the crew tug the mainsail, eating fish you may have caught yourself and stargazing with an intimate group of travelers you have just met. In other words, there will be no glitzy tuxedo ball, shuffleboard or cheezy floor show. Traveling to Bar Harbor, Acadia National Park and Penobscot Bay by sail looks delightful, but the program suffers just a bit from that superficial "promotional video" bounce that made me feel slightly seasick by the end. Optional. (R. Ray)