You should totally just come out and sign on as crew on the Lady Washington! Of course, I have no idea where you live, but still. Come to the west coast! We can has ships!

Also, if you sailed with the Chieftain, you'd have your very own billet and enjoy the skills of a cook named (waaaaait for it).... Knuckles. And believe me, what he was cooking? I wanted a lot of.

I quizzed several of the crew about it (and indulged a few wistful daydreams) and it seems pretty relaxed about coming and going... you sign on and stay as long as you like, and then you get off somewhere. :D It sounded like a ridiculous amount of fun. One of the girls was telling me that she had a gap year between high school and college and had just sort of decided to spend it sailing on a tallship, and I thought... you know, her friends are back home bitching about their classes or playing PS3 all year until school starts or whatever, and she's out here sailing on a gorgeous ship and seeing the whole west coast of the US! That's got to be an experience to remember. I wish I'd known myself well enough (and been go-getting and outgoing enough) to have done something like this when I was younger and less saddled by debt and responsibility.