no more than 100, then it is easy to imagine that they are all replicas or well maintained floating museums.

The truth is that they are all working vessels which sail, and race, as part of a philosophy that uses the common purpose of handling a vessel to foster self confidence and teamwork. Many have been specially commissioned for this purpose and many are less than 30 years old.

Within this fleet is the British barque Lord Nelson , specially designed and built (1985) to take mixed ability crews: that is, of her 40 voyage crew who sign on and pay for their `holiday', up to half may be disabled and of that half, up to eight may be in wheelchairs.

This is a working holiday; the voyage crew stand the twice a day, four hour watch familiar to the merchant navy the world over. They steer, keep lookout and work the ship. Whether the sails need setting, or the ship needs cleaning (there is a `happy hour' of scrubbing every morning) or the vegetables need chopping, then everyone is involved.

The ship's catchphrase and motto is 'We work at the speed of the slowest person' so that if you have a haliard that needs hauling, you don't use the four fittest people who got there fastest but the whole watch, or more, ten, twenty people all giving some effort to the job. The ship has many extras that help the crew along: wheelchair lifts between decks, lots of handholds, a bright radar for those who can't see so well, a speaking compass so that the blind can helm the ship. But above all the basic idea is that everyone takes part, makes and meets there own challenges, and no one is excluded because of presumptions about their ability.

What you soon realise is this is a social thing. Since the ship takes people from the age of 16, such a wide net catches the old and young from all backgrounds. Tell me that this happens in your world -- outside of office and family where do you meet such a wide band of new people? I have stood with a retired geography teacher and set the world to rights on a pretty cold January night on watch as we sailed down the English Channel. Working as a team, a common cause, and shared achievement quickly turns forty strangers into friends.

What does this "experience'' deliver? Well, for starters it takes you away from all the rubbish you get on dry land -- no phones, no newspapers, no commuting, all the stuff that clogs your daily schedule. And one of the great freedoms is not having to worry about when you're going to eat and what you have to do. You are a crew member, part of a watch of ten people that runs the ship. All under a watchleader who is a bit more familiar with the ship and her workings, and he under a certified crew -- Captain, three officers plus engineer, cook, and a medical purser, (a sort of den mother and nurse rolled into one). If this sounds a bit regimented and controlled it isn't. There is less shouting than some of the naval cadet ships, much patience in the ongoing instruction of novices in the art of square rig and a general feeling that everyone profits from the experience: a new skill (setting a topgallant sail), a new challenge (climbing aloft), a feeling of confidence, even just getting away from all the "rubbish''.

Named after Britain's most famous disabled sailor, this is her second transatlantic trip but the first time she has raced other tall ships.

Max Mudie is a professional photographer who specialises in covering Tall Ships Races.

UP, up and away: Clyde Stovell is lifted aloft in his wheelchiar on the Lord Nelson.