Bear with me on this. Have you given any thought to that question? I really didn't see the need to myself, until I found myself trying to explain it to someone else. Why do these things(meaning tall ships) still exist? Given how impossibly expensive they must be to maintain, and they're just plain hard to operate...seriously, what's the attraction?
I recently came upon some writing that does a pretty good job of explaining it. The first is a from Alan Villiers, a distinguished mariner, writer, and photographer, of early 20th century seafaring, from Australia. My favorite quote is under the Mission Statement of Spirit's Crew Manual.
His narrative below, indirectly, offers the explanation you may be looking for.
The young apprentice may have come aboard with his head filled with queer ideas about sailing ships and the sea, principal among which is a fixed notion that all he has to do is look on while old sailors explain things to him and then later on give the Captain advice about sailing the ship. His first month at sea may be a distressing experience, shattering illusions right and left, he sees only the bare bones of real life remain. He expected romance and found work; he expected a "great life" and found himself principally called upon to perform feats of almost superhuman endurance- feats which everybody did daily and nobody ever noticed. Then, after he settles into things, he finds that there really can be a romance in those bare bones of life if one knows how to go about looking for it. He sings while he works aloft, and feels the thrill of the sea in his veins as he hangs on to the wheel, and laughs when he is wet through for the twentieth time in succession, and turns out quickly when the call is for all hands on deck, though he made the acquaintance of his bunk only half an hour ago and his watch is always catching it, and he fights the mad canvas aloft with the men... Yes, the sailing ship can be hard, and it is not always a pleasant process having the edges knocked off you.. But the ship casts a spell over those who sail in her.
Never been aloft, so you can't relate? How bout this one, from the Tall Ship's America website:
The rewards of sailing a tall ship are deep and durable, because the challenges are so real and the experience is so personal. Sailing adventure is compelling because it is uncontrived, springing spontaneously from the voyage itself. Seafaring engages your mind, body, and spirit like never before, and inspires you to strive for your own personal best...all the while being a valued and important member of the team. The quality of work, and the spirit in which we do it, has a profound effect on the well-being of everyone else aboard. Leadership, paradoxically, is arrived at by first learning to take direction and by becoming a team player.
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