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Their masts stood stern and proud against a moody sky, with ropes and rigging sketching out an orderly tangle between the slender columns that give these tall ships their name. Some were decked out in jaunty bunting, others sported creamily elegant sails, some flaunted boldly decorated livery. Clipping along in their frothy wash against a backdrop of the metal and glass encrusted towers of the Docklands, the ships seemed incongruous, as if they had somehow sailed in from centuries past like floating tardises, rather than from modern-day Falmouth. (more…)