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Other stories in "Winter"

• This weekend
  Drink beer and hunt for prizes at a German Mardi Gras.
• Next weekend
  Drink beer and hunt for prizes at a German Mardi Gras.
• Sightseeing by bicycle
  This summer's tours include an extra quota of scenery.
• Best bets for the weekend
  Build a snowman, toast a s'more.
• Wacky winter festivals
  Some folks really know how to throw a party — and a lot of other things, too.
• Go, dogs, go
  Watch an elite field of mushers and huskies in the John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon.
• Walking on ice
  To stay safe and have fun, buy a pair of crampons.
• Volunteering on Lake Superior
  Be keeper of the light or a watcher of wolves.
• Good deals
  Take a ski lesson and get a free lift ticket.
• Serious reservations
  Here's a guide to the lodgings, campsites and permits you should nail down now.
• Best bets in ski country
  Trails in the south bask in snow; a hostel reopens in state forest.
• Skiing in the city
  On the trails of Duluth, a cappuccino never is far away.
• Cheap winter retreats
  Spend a weekend mushing dogs or tracking wolves at bargain prices.
• Happy holidays from MidwestWeekends
  Here are our wishes (and gifts).
• How to make ice luminaries
  With homemade lanterns, make your front walk sparkle.
• A peek into an inn
  During holidays, B&Bs in four tourist towns open for tours.
• Holiday house calls
  On tours, see where the rich and famous celebrated Christmas.
• Magic under the moon
  In winter, plan a trip around a candlelight ski or snowshoe.
• A very merry city
  At Christmas, Chicago brims with good will.
• All eyes on eagles
  In winter, tourists and birds alike head for open water.
• Vacations for the brain
  Go to a summer folk school and you'll come home with a skill.

A throng of tall ships

In 2010, schooners from around the world will converge on Great Lakes ports.

If the flapping of giant sails makes your heart flutter, this is your summer to be on the Great Lakes.

The Denis Sullivan of Milwaukee’s Discovery Center is leading an armada of international schooners, barks and sloops on a race through the Great Lakes, from Toronto on Lake Ontario to Cleveland on Lake Erie, Bay City on Lake Huron, Chicago and Green Bay on Lake Michigan and Duluth on Lake Superior.

The Great Lakes United Tall Ships Challenge 2010 will promote freshwater conservation and youth sail training along the way. But the crowds gathered in ports along the way mostly will want to see the spectacle of hundreds of sails flapping over historic vessels rarely seen on the Great Lakes.

They include the Amistad, a 129-foot replica of the schooner on which kidnapped Africans launched a revolt in 1839 that later became the basis for the Spielberg movie; the Europa, an 185-foot Dutch bark that was built in 1911 by the city of Hamburg, Germany, as a floating lighthouse on the Elbe River; and the 165-foot German brig Roald Amundsen, which once served the East German Army and sports 18 sails.

Up to 25 tall ships will sail into Chicago, 12 into Green Bay and eight into Duluth. A flock of privately owned schooners will follow them, drawn like moths to flame.

Here’s a tip: Reserve your hotel rooms now. Or, sleep on the ships.

Youths are invited as apprentice crew members on many of the vessels, and the Denis Sullivan is offering berths for adults and family between Houghton and Duluth ($400) and Sault Ste. Marie and Green Bay ($600). High-school students are invited on the stretch from Duluth to the Soo Locks ($1,000), and young women from Milwaukee to Chicago.

Each of the port cities is planning a festival, with tours and day sails for the public. From Toronto, the ships will sail to Cleveland and arrive in the Lake Huron town of Bay City, Mich, for its Tall Ships Celebration July 15-18.

From there, eight ships will sail through the Soo Locks to Duluth for its Tall Ships Duluth festival July 28-Aug. 3. Green Bay is holding its Tall Ship Festival Aug. 13-15, and the final port is Navy Pier for Tall Ships Chicago, Aug. 24-29.

Duluth, which was overwhelmed by the crowds that greeted three tall ships for its Maritime Festival in 2008, is preparing for an enthusiastic response to eight ships.

"We're so far inland that we don't see these boats very often,'' says Gene Shaw of Visit Duluth. "People get excited even when the ore boats come in.''

Already, owners of private sailing vessels are asking if they can dock with the big boys off Bayfront Festival Park, and Duluth has invited boats from the Woodies on the Water festival in neighboring Superior as well as Coast Guard cutters and tugs: "The more, the merrier,'' Shaw says.

Other ships taking part in the Great Lakes Challenge include the privateer Lynx, a replica of a Maryland schooner that fought on America's behalf in the War of 1812, and the Unicorn, which was built in the Netherlands in 1947 from German U-boat scrap metal and sails with an all-female crew.

Other visiting ships are more familiar and include the 198-foot U.S. Brig Niagara of Erie, Pa., and the 157-foot Pride of Baltimore II, replicas of War of 1812 battleships.

Great Lakes vessels will join them, such as the Appledore IV, based in Bay City, Mich.; and the Friends Good Will, a replica of an 1810 square-topsail sloop based in South Haven, Mich.

Each city will welcome different ships, and sailing schedules will remain somewhat fluid until the last minute, since captains have final say over each vessel's course. Watch web sites for details; tickets for the Green Bay festival go on sale May 10.

For more on other maritime festivals and tours of tall ships in the western Great Lakes, see Following the tall ships.

If you want to plan a Circle Tour that includes one of the festivals, see Circling Superior and Navigating Lake Michigan.

Last updated on February 10, 2010