Irish Sea Tall Ships Regatta prepares for the start

The delayed race start will now take place between 1800 and 2000 hrs local time tonight off Howth Head just north of Dublin Bay. The delay of 24 hours being due to a depression forecast to pass through the Irish Sea overnight last night and today.  

Race Director Mike Bowles adds “Indeed, as I write (1430 hrs local), the skies to the west are brightening and the wind is veering to the south west and decreasing in strength. The sea, which has been moderate to rough overnight, is now also improving although it will probably be a bit lumpy for a while.”

The Captains have been given a set of waypoints and they then have 42 hours after the start, to cover as much distance as they can following permitted routes around waypoints. The winner(s) of the race will be those ship(s) that have covered the greatest distance in the time allowed.

Meanwhile a blog just in from Tecla (Netherlands), a regular and keen competitor in many Tall Ships events, provides an insight into the spirit on board from some of the newly arrived sail training crew:

We arrived in Dublin yesterday after a very early start. The atmosphere was electric as hundreds of avid onlookers swarmed the quayside to see the ships, all lined up in various sizes from all over the world.

The weather conditions were quite good, sunshine and showers for most of the day.

Once aboard the Tecla we met our crew and were assigned our bunks – some were bigger than others (Alice, Peggy, Carly-Ann and Rachel ended up in the the wardrobe!), however we were all impressed that each cabin had an en-suite. 

For our last night on terra firma we explored Dublin and tasted some exotic foods before going to the fayre.  We all met at breakfast and swopped stories various injuries sustained in the night. In particular Ellie’s head injuries after forgetting she was sleeping on the lower bunk and Peggy’s dislocated knee after trying to zip up her sleeping bag.

This afternoon we set sail amid a glorious send off from the people of Dublin and we soon got to grips with the workings of the ship. 

To find out how each tall ship is progressing register to follow the fleet for live tracking (updated hourly) or for a list of the official interim results updated twice a day, CLICK HERE

The 11 competing vessels are: Pelican of London, UK; De Gallant, Netherlands; Johanna Lucretia, UK;Kapitan Borchardt, Poland; Maybe