Tall Ships in Chicago, Illinois

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Chicago, is the third largest city in the United States, and with more than 2.8 million people, the largest city in the state of Illinois and the Midwestern United States. Located on the southwestern shores of Lake Michigan and next to Indiana, Chicago is the third-most densely populated major city in the U.S., and anchor to the world’s 26th largest metropolitan area with over 9.6 million people across three states. The Chicago-Naperville-Joliet MSA also grew more than an estimated 400,000 people between April 1, 2000 and July 1, 2006. Except for the southwest corner of O’Hare International Airport in DuPage County, the city of Chicago is located in Cook County.

A tall ship is a large traditionally rigged sailing vessel. Popular modern tall ship rigs include topsail schooners, brigantines, brigs and barques.

Traditional rigging may include square rigs and gaff rigs, with separate topmasts and topsails. It is generally more complex than modern rigging, which utilizes newer materials such as aluminum and steel to construct taller, lightweight masts with fewer, more versatile sails. Most smaller, modern vessels use Bermuda rig. Though it did not become popular elsewhere until the twentieth century, this rig was developed in Bermuda in the seventeenth century, and had historically been used on its small ships, the Bermuda sloops.