At least 20 tall ships are scheduled to visit each of the Great Lakes this year; a fleet that includes a replica Viking longship and a 170-foot Spanish Galleon making their debut on America's freshwater seas.

The El Galeon Andalucia, a 495-ton, authentic wooden replica of a galleon that was part of Spain's West Indies fleet, and the Dragon Harald Fairhar, a replica Viking longship built in Norway, are crossing the Atlantic Ocean this year to join the Tall Ships Challenge returning to the Great Lakes in 2016.

The fleet will sail the lakes over the course of four months, with scheduled port stops and races on lakes Ontario, Erie, Huron, Michigan and Superior between July and September.

The organized tall ships show last visited Michigan in 2013.

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"In between each of the ports, they will be racing," said Erin Short, challenge manager for Rhode Island-based Tall Ships America.

Although there are numerous tall ships that are home-ported around the Great Lakes, the challenge brings them all together into a large, international fleet with a structured schedule, said Short.

The entire roster has not been announced, but the fleet will make port at least 8 times in the Great Lakes this summer.

• Toronto, Ont., July 1-3.

• Fairport Harbor, Ohio, July 8-10.

• Bay City, Mich., July 15-17.

• Chicago, Ill., July 27-31.

• Green Bay, Wis., Aug. 5-7.

• Duluth, Minn., Aug. 18-21.

• Erie, Penn., Sept. 8-11.

• Brockville, Ont., Sept. 17-18.

Individual ships may choose make other stops at various ports around the Great Lakes in between those dates, said Short.

Public tours are available during port stops, which typically coincide with a festival featuring music, food and large crowds. Tickets are sold for 60 to 90 minute short sails, but "those are definitely the first tickets to run out." Short said to check with each individual port in advance of the event for ticketing information.

In between port stops, the ship races will test crews' ship handling skills. Because of the different rigging and ship design, there's a "handicap' built into the race, which starts offshore and goes to a predetermined offshore finish line.

Since the tall ships began racing in the Great Lakes in 2001, Bay City has hosted its Tall Ship Celebration five times, taking home Port of the Year honors in 2001 and 2006. Chicago won the award in 2003 and 2010.

In 2013, the race challenge and festival attracted 75,000 visitors to Bay City and had an estimated economic impact of more than $8 million.

Garret Ellison covers business, environment & the Great Lakes for MLive Media Group. Email him at gellison@mlive.com or follow on Twitter & Instagram