Welcoming thousands of guests as she sails from city to city in stately grace, the Lady Washington and her crew are having a busy summer.

Sold out port visits and hundreds of school kids have marked her season so far, said the vessel’s skipper, Capt. Katherine Pogue, representing the ship’s homeport with pride.

“We’re constantly representing Aberdeen,” Pogue said. “People ask us what the flag on the foremast is and it is indeed Aberdeen’s.”

The ship has welcomed the curious and inquisitive all around the Puget Sound since she sailed from Aberdeen in May.

“We sold out in Anacortes before we got there,” Pogue said in an interview from the helm as she sailed the ship for a day sail in Port Orchard. “Langley was great. We did a lot of school programming.”

The tall ship is currently moored in Port Orchard, where the crew took some downtime before returning to daily sailings and hosting graduate students as they learn not from classrooms and historical accounts but from firsthand experience about the traditional process of sailing.

“This is a pilot program,” Pogue said. “We’ve never had anything like this before.”

The four graduate students from Texas A&M University are staying aboard and rapidly learning the non-metaphorical ropes as they seek to gain hands-on experience that will inform their future scholarship.

“Oh, man. They’re so great, so enthusiastic,” Pogue said. “They’re learning a lot so quickly.”

The grad students are staying aboard under the instruction of program instructor Annaliese Dempsey. While quarters aboard the 112-foot vessel are a little tight, they’ve been able to fit them into place, Pogue said.

“It’s a little more than we’re used to but only by one or two people,” Pogue said. “Syd (Bedgood’s) been able to cook enough food.”

The students have also been helping to deliver presentations about the ship and maritime history to dockside visitors. A major part of the summer so far has involved educational presentations, particularly in Langley, where the full time crew hosted more than 400 students over a few days for sailings and learning.

“We had a lot of education programming in Langley,” said Madison Pulley, Lady Washington’s education outreach coordinator, in an interview aboard. “The crew did a great job teaching.”

Education focused on trade, navigation and life at sea, with several stations to provide examples of same, while students got a chance to pull the lines and helping to set the sails away from the pier on the water, Pulley said.

“We get them involved in the sailing as much as possible,” Pulley said. “We had … not a lot of wind most days, but they set something.”

The guests have been good this season, Pulley said.

“I’ve definitely had a lot of good conversations, had a lot of good questions,” Pulley said.

The sailing has been good as well, Pogue said — the weather and the seas have been satisfactory so far, allowing the ship to spend more time under sail then perhaps they would.

“We sailed up to Anacortes. We had a freak southerly wind that helped,” Pogue said. “It’s a game. We try to time it with the currents.”

The tall ship was able to make the Anacortes-Langley transit largely under sail, as opposed to the vessel’s engine.

“Deception Pass was a really cool transit,” Pogue said. “We conveniently had wind to sail, so we went through with the sails set.”

It feels like the sailing weather is getting warmer than seasons past, Pogue said.

“The weather started hot early,” Pogue said. “It’s extending, it feels like. The summers are getting longer.”

The crew is bearing up through the season well, Pogue said, especially with a week off from daily dockside tours and sailings just behind them, complimenting the ship’s cook for exemplary work.

“Everyone’s been good,” Pogue said. “Syd’s been knocking it out of the park this year.”

Looking toward the future, the vessel still has a number of port stops scheduled, Pogue said, including Friday Harbor, Blaine, Port Ludlow and Tacoma.

“We’re still getting ready for the refit. The list goes on,” Pogue said. “It sounds like we’re starting to make cost estimates and source wood.”

Further information about sailings and bookings is available at historicalseaport.org/tickets/

Contact Senior Reporter Michael S. Lockett at 757-621-1197 or mlockett@thedailyworld.com.

Michael S. Lockett / The Daily World The Lady Washington lays alongside the pier in Port Orchard on July 2.

Michael S. Lockett / The Daily World Boat dogs Rosie and Tank of the Island Champion inspect the Lady Washington as it passes to port on July 2.

Michael S. Lockett / The Daily World Boat cat Darryll of the Lady Washington looks askance on July 2.

Michael S. Lockett / The Daily World Paul Goza goes aloft to untangle a flag aboard the Lady Washington on July 2.

Michael S. Lockett / The Daily World Chief Mate James Hsu, left, works with SAIL program participant Marijo Gauthier-Berube to secure a line aboard the Lady Washington on July 2.

Michael S. Lockett / The Daily World Boat cat Marlin grudgingly accepts pets aboard the Lady Washington on July 2.

Michael S. Lockett / The Daily World Capt. Katherine Pogue of the Lady Washington steers the ship into Port Orchard on July 2.