Sinbad Horatio's pirate ship the "Meka II." Sinbad lost the Class B race this year.

Hope your 4th was independent and safe.

Okay… Sinbad Horatio.

A name to know if you’re sailing the high seas off North Carolina’s Crystal Coast.

Used to be “Blackbeard” (yes, the dreaded pirate) was the name to know. Blackbeard terrorized the East Coast from New York to South America in the early 1700s. There had never been a pirate like Blackbeard and there would never be another. Near the end of his reign, Beaufort (pronounced BOE-fert) and Ocracoke, North Carolina, were his favored stomping grounds.

The lean and light tall ship "Serenity" won this year's Class B race.

The Crystal Coast hasn’t had a worthwhile pirate since.

Enter Sinbad Horatio, the good pirate.

Sinbad, a Beaufort local, has a pirate ship and a big white beard and a, um, colorful disposition. It is largely his doing that the famed “Tall Ships” have sailed into Beaufort this past weekend. Four years ago in Jamaica, at the last “Tall Ships” spectacle, Sinbad and his pirate crew surprised the sailing world by winning the Class B sailing race… giving Beaufort first dibs on the next “Tall Ships” event… which was this past July 4th weekend, 2006.

Sinbad lost the Class B race Monday, pretty much guaranteeing the “Tall Ships” will likely sail elsewhere in 2010… possibly somewhere in Virginia because the Class B winner this year was “Serenity” a ship from the Volunteer state.

John Gates.

It's hard to explain how a tall ship grabs your attention. They're a combination of swashbuckling machismo, artistic grace, historic perspective and speed all rolled into one stunning vessel.

The name to know if you’re sailing the high seas in search of a Sinbad Horatio.

See, I walked into Beaufort last Friday night looking for a ride. Andy and I were there to shoot the “Tall Ships” story. But we had no idea how it would work. The Carolina Traveler car got us to the dock. We needed a boat and a captain after that. We don’t like riding on media boats with 15 other reporters and their photographers. It’s not that we’re not sociable; we just like to be in control.

I don’t know, maybe we’re not sociable. I know we’re control freaks. If we’re unsociable too, that would be two social disorders and give me cause for concern. Whatever the case, I know everyone is out to get us and we’re not the crazy ones. Wait, is that three or four social disorders now? I’ve lost count.

Anyway, Leigh Gates, the woman waving the magical wand of power in the media credentialing office took pity on me and called her husband, John.

John met us at the dock and I instantly had a new friend. John Gates is one of those guys you wanna knock back a few beers with…. Leigh is the same way, but attached to her ankle was a 10,000 pound weight called “Tall Ships.” She had 12 seconds of free time and spent 11 of them with us. Juggling hundreds of media requests and tens of thousands of tourists has a corrosive effect. Basically events this big are like a flesh eating virus. We just hoped she lived long enough to see the other side and receive medication. And by medication I mean a bottle of fine wine and a hot tub. God bless that woman.

Leigh and John Gates are behind me in this photo...this was the 11 seconds I told you about. On the bench seat there is a hilarious News & Observer photographer Chuck Liddy. Chuck was a much better sailor than me Andy.

John Gates had all sorts of free time and we took to each other like two peas in a pod. To pay the bills John brokers mortgages. But in his dreams and in his soul John is a sailor. He actually walked away from the “real world” a while back and worked on a sailboat in the Caribbean for about three years.

Why he came back I don’t know but I was glad he did.

John Gates treated Andy and I like family. We spent time with his mom, Betty, at her house in Beaufort. Met his sister Ford and brother-in-law Richard. And most of Betty’s neighbors there in Beaufort. They’re friendly, hospitable lot. It was a hoot!

Betty can tell a story or two. And she mixes a stiff cocktail. I was grateful for both those skills.

John Gates on the right and his buddy John Hughes could not have been nicer people. The two Johns did everything they could to make this shoot work for us. And we're a couple of high maintenance nutcases.

John ferried us all over Cape Lookout for three days. We chased Tall Ships for miles out into the Atlantic Ocean. We visited the only North Carolina Lighthouse I haven’t seen close up… there are no bridges and no roads to Cape Lookout Light. Like Ocracoke Island, you have to get there by sea. Cape Lookout Light is slightly older and slightly shorter than it’s more famous sister the Hatteras light… but it’s every bit as spectacular.

We boated over to Lookout Bight. A thin point of sand where you can swim in the sound and walk 50 yards across the sand and then swim in the Atlantic Ocean. After that we headed across the sound to Shackleford Banks and happened upon a herd of wild horses. It was an unbelievable day. Andy captured it all on high definition video for you.

Cape Lookout Light, painted in it’s familiar diamond pattern, is yet another majestic brick-built Outer Banks lighthouse.

I seriously need to talk to my 12 bosses about moving “Carolina Traveler Intergalactic Headquarters” (CTIH) to Beaufort.

Let a man dream…

Mike Redding