Tall Ships' Races

Italian tall ship Amerigo Vespucci in New York Harbor, 1976.

The Tall Ships' Races are races for sail training "tall ships" (sailing ships). The races are designed to encourage international friendship and training for young people in the art of sailing. The races are held annually in European waters and consists of two racing legs of several hundred nautical miles, and a "cruise in company" between the legs. Over one half (fifty-percent) of the crew of each ship participating in the races must consist of young people.

Between 1973 and 2003 the races were known as The Cutty Sark Tall Ships' Races, having been sponsored by Cutty Sark whisky. From 2004 to 2010 the races were supported by The City, Province, and Port of Antwerp. The current sponsor of the Tall Ships' Races 2010–2014 is the city of Szczecin.

Tall ships

Participating vessels are manned by a largely cadet or trainee crew who are partaking in sail training, 50 percent of which must be aged between 15–25 years of age and who do not need any previous experience. Thus, tall ship does not describe a specific type of sailing vessel, but rather a monohull sailing vessel of at least 9.4 metres (30 ft) that is conducting sail training and education under sail voyages. Participating ships range from yachts to the large square-rigged sail training ships run by charities, schools and navies of many countries.

The race

The first Tall Ships' race was held in 1956. It was a race of 20 of the world's remaining large sailing ships organized by Bernard Morgan, a London lawyer. The race was from Torquay, Devon to Lisbon, and was meant to be a last farewell to the era of the great sailing ships. Public interest was so intense, however, that race organizers founded the Sail Training International association to direct the planning of future events. Since then Tall Ships' Races have occurred annually in various parts of the world, with millions of spectators. Today, the race attracts more than a hundred ships, among these some of the largest sailing ships in existence, like the Portuguese Sagres. The 50th Anniversary Tall Ships' Races took place during July and August, 2006, and was started by the patron, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, who also started the first race in 1956.

Future races

2013

Race One starts in Århus (Denmark) (Thursday 4 July - Sunday 7 July) to Helsinki (Finland) (Wednesday July 17 - Saturday 20 July).

Cruise in company to Riga (Latvia) (Thursday 25 July - Sunday 28 July).

Race Two from Riga to Szczecin (Poland) (Saturday 3 August - Tuesday 6 August)

Previous races

• 2012: Saint Malo (France) – Lisbon (Portugal) – Cadiz (Spain) –A Coruña – Dublin (Ireland)
• 2011: Waterford (Ireland) –Greenock (Scotland) – Lerwick (Shetland) – Stavanger (Norway) – Halmstad (Sweden)
• 2010: Antwerp (Belgium) – Aalborg (Denmark) – Kristiansand (Norway) – Hartlepool (England)
• 2009: Trans-Atlantic: Vigo (Spain) - Tenerife (Canary Islands) - Bermuda - Charleston (USA) - Boston (USA) - Halifax (Canada) - Belfast (Northern Ireland)
• 2009: Baltic: Gdynia (Poland) - St Petersburg (Russia) - Turku (Finland) - Klaipėda (Lithuania)
• 2008: Liverpool (England) - Måløy (Norway) - Bergen (Norway) - Den Helder (Netherlands)
• 2007: Baltic: Aarhus (Denmark) - Kotka (Finland) - Stockholm (Sweden) - Szczecin (Poland)
• 2007: Mediterranean: Barcelona (Spain) - Genoa (Italy) - Toulon (France) - Alicante (Spain)
• 2006: Saint Malo (France) - Lisbon (Portugal) - Cádiz (Spain) - La Coruña (Spain) - Antwerp (Belgium)
• 2005: Waterford (Ireland) - Cherbourg-Octeville (France) - Newcastle-Gateshead (England) - Fredrikstad (Norway) - Torbay (England) - Santander (Spain)
• 2004: Antwerp (Belgium) - Aalborg (Denmark) - Stavanger (Norway) - Cuxhaven (Germany)
• 2003: Gdynia (Poland) - Turku (Finland) - Riga (Latvia) - Travemünde (Germany)
• 2002: Alicante (Spain) - Málaga (Spain) - A Coruña (Spain) - Santander (Spain) - Portsmouth (United Kingdom)
• 2001: Antwerp (Belgium) - Ålesund (Norway) - Bergen (Norway) - Esbjerg (Denmark)

Sail Training International

Main article: Sail Training International

The Tall Ships' Races are organised by Sail Training International (STI) an international association of national sail training organisations devoted to promoting "the education and development of young people of all nationalities, religions and social backgrounds, through sail training".

Some ships that have participated

• Amerigo Vespucci - Italian Navy training ship
• Asgard II - Irish sail training ship
• Auno - a Norwegian gaff ketch
• Belle Poule (built in 1932) - French Navy training schooner which together with the Etoile, its sister ship, has been participating to the Tall Ship Race since 1958. In 2009, the Belle Poule and the Etoile crossed the Atlantic ocean for the first time during the Tall Ship Atlantic Challenge.
• Christian Radich - Norwegian full rigged training ship
• Creoula - Portuguese training ship
• Cuauhtémoc - Mexican Navy officer-training ship (winner on two occasions)
• Dar Młodzieży - a three-masted Polish full-rigged ship (built in 1982)
• Dar Pomorza - winner of 1972 and 1980 races, a three-masted Polish full-rigged ship (built in 1909, decommissioned in 1980 and replaced by the Dar Mlodziezy, see above)
• Eagle - training vessel for the U.S. Coast Guard, most recently participated in 2005
• Eendracht - Dutch schooner owned by Stichting het Zeilend Zeeschip (Foundation the Sailing Seaship)
• Schooner Ernestina - the official vessel of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
• Esmeralda (BE-43) - Training vessel for the Chilean Navy, won in 1982 and 1990.
• Etoile (built in 1932) - French Navy training schooner which together with the Belle Poule, its sister ship, has been participating to the Tall Ship Race since 1958. In 2009, the Etoile and the Belle Poule crossed the Atlantic ocean for the first time during the Tall Ship Atlantic Challenge.
• Far Barcelona - a 1874 jackt restored at the Consorci El Far as vessel school, Barcelona-Spain
• HMS Falken - a two-masted Swedish Naval training schooner
• HMS Gladan - a two-masted Swedish Naval training schooner
• Golden Quest - a three-masted Swedish barque
• Gorch Fock (built in 1958)
• Gulden leeuw - a three-masted Dutch topsail schooner
• Johann Smidt (ex Eendracht) (German Wikipedia) - a two-masted German schooner, class B (length between 30.5 and 46.5 m) winner in 1992 and 2000.
• Jolie Brise - a French pilot cutter, three times winner of the Fastnet Ocean Race, two times overall winner of the Tall Ships' Races. Owned maintained and sailed by Dauntsey's School.
• Juan de Lángara - Spanish training schooner, won the Friend's Ships Throphy in 2006 and is a regular participant in Tall Ships Races from 1995
• Kruzenshtern - Russian four-masted barque, one of the last genuine windjammers under sail
• Jens Krogh - a Danish gaff ketch
• May Be - a 1920's Dutch sailing ketch which took part in the first tall ships race.
• Mercator (ship) - a Belgian merchant marine three-masted barquentine, winner of the Oslo ~ Oostende race in 1960.
• Mircea - a three-masted Romanian sail training ship
• UAM Creoula - a four-masted Portuguese sail training ship
• Morning Star of Revelation - a British 62 ft (19 m) gaff ketch
• Mutin - French Navy's oldest training ship which was used during WW2 as an operational unit by the British Special Operations Executives (SOE)
• Ocean Scout - a Bermuda rigged Oyster 49 ketch launched in 1994 operated by the UK scout sail training charity, Adventures Offshore. It is the elder sister ship to Offshore Scout.
• Offshore Scout - a Bermuda rigged Oyster 49 ketch launched in 1997 operated by the UK scout sail training charity, Adventures Offshore. It is the elder sister ship to Ocean Scout.
• Pogoria - a three-masted Polish barquentine (built in 1980)
• Roald Amundsen - a German brig ST G 508
• Sagita - a Danish schooner
• NRP Sagres - Portuguese training ship
• Skibladner II - a Danish gaff ketch
• Statsraad Lehmkuhl - a three-masted Norwegian barque
• Stavros S Niarchos - British sail training ship.
• The Swan - Shetland ship
• STS Lord Nelson - Jubilee Sailing Trust - Southampton.
• STS Mir - a three-masted Russian training ship.
• SV Tenacious - Jubilee Sailing Trust - Southampton.
• The Sørlandet Norway, the oldest operative full-rigged ship in the world
• Moosk - a 100 year old Cornish Yawl
• Prince William
• Seute Deern II (ex Noona Dan) (German Wikipedia) - a two-masted German ketch, former school ship.
• HMS Trincomalee - Britain's oldest warship afloat. Will remain in Hartlepool
• Stad Amsterdam - Dutch clipper, built as a charter and cruise ship. She won in 2001.
• TS Royalist - TS Royalist is a brig owned and operated as a sail training ship by the Sea Cadet Corps of the United Kingdom tall ships

See also

• The Great Tea Race of 1866

Further reading

• Harry Bruce, Tall Ships: an Odyssey (Toronto, 2000)
• American Sail Training Association, Sail Tall Ships (Newport, 2000)
• Rigel Crockett, Fair Wind and Plenty of It

External links

• At Sea Sail Training
• 2010 Great Lakes
• Antwerp 2010
• Aalborg 2010
• Kristiansand 2010
• Hartlepool 2010
• Waterford 2011
• Lerwick 2011
• Halmstad 2011
• Sail Training International
• Tall Ships' Races 2007
• Tall Ships' Races 2007 Final in Szczecin
• Tall Ships' Races 2006
• Tall Ships' Races 2005
• Tall Ships' Races 2004
• Tall Ships, a collection of tall ships photographs and articles about tall ships and the Tall Ships' Races, where anyone can read or post about their experience on board the tall ships and find out how to get involved
• Tall Ships Gallery - Photographs of Tall Ships by photographer Richard Sibley.
• "Tall Ships Race Start - off River Dart Mercator, Flying Clipper, Sorlandet, Creole - possibly 1956". Dartmouth Museum. Retrieved 13 May 2012.