Diamond anniversary for The Tall Ships Races 2016

The Tall Ships Races 2016 is looking forward to celebrating a diamond anniversary event.   

The host ports for 2016 are Antwerp, Belgium; Lisbon, Portugal; Cadiz, Spain and A Coruna, Spain.  

It will be exactly sixty years since the very first Tall Ships Race visited Lisbon, Portugal in 1956 – and the international fleet is returning for the eighth time.

The first Tall Ships’ Race in 1956 was a race of 20 of the world’s remaining large sailing ships. The race was from Torbay, UK to Lisbon and was meant to be a last farewell to the era of the great sailing ships. However, public interest was so intense the Sail Training International Race Committee formed a founding organisation and has since organised Tall Ships’ Races and Regattas annually around the world, attracting hundreds of ships and millions of spectators.

The starting host port for 2016 – Antwerp, Belgium – will be hosting the event for the fourth time since its first event in 2001.

Antwerp loves The Tall Ships Races.  Located in the heart of Europe it’ a pocket-sized metropolis and Europe’ second largest ports.  With 164 different nationalities living there, the city is the second most multicultural city in the world and was voted one of the top ten most attractive and enjoyable cities in the world by Lonely Planet (2009).    

Lisbon, Portugal will be welcoming the fleet after the first race leg for the seventh time since the races began. 

Lisbon is perched on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean and is one of the rare Western European cities that face the ocean and uses water as an element that defines the city.  It overlooks the Rio Tejo and features Gothic cathedrals, majestic monasteries and quaint museums Yet, while history is very much alive in centuries-old Lisbon, its spirit is undeniably youthful.

Cadiz, Spain is the finish port for race two and the start port for race three – for the fourth time – and Tall Ship Race participants can enjoy a cruise in company from the finish line off Sagres, Portugal to A Coruna. 

Cíçdiz is the oldest continuously-inhabited city in southern Spain and one of the oldest in southwestern Europe. 

The final port of the series A Coruna, Spain is welcoming the fleet back for the eleventh time – the most number of times a host port has hosted a Tall Ships race event.

A Coruna is in northern Spain.   It’ a busy port located on a promontory in the entrance of an estuary in a large gulf on the Atlantic Ocean. It’ the richest region of Galicia – an autonomous community in northwest Spain, and its economic engine.

The Tall Ships Races 2016

Antwerp, Belgium  Thursday 7 – Sunday 10 July 

Race start   Wednesday 13 July 

Race 1

Lisbon, Portugal  Friday 22 – Monday 25 July 

Race 2

Cadiz, Spain  Thursday 28 – Sunday 31 July

Race 3

Race finish line, Sagres, Portugal  Tuesday 2 August

Cruise-in-company <