Seeing a majestic tall ship at sea can turn the most practical spectator into a hopeless romantic, nostalgic for times known only through books and films. These ships are vessels of our imaginations, stirring a longing to set out for high-seas adventures like the ones we read about as children. A parade of these maritime beauties is part of the Ocean Institute’s annual Tall Ships Festival at Dana Point each September. As the narrator in the John Masefield poem “Sea Fever” put it before heading again into dark and mysterious waters: “All I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by.”