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Built in 1934 in Les Sables-d’Olonne for a skipper from Groix, Biche fished for tuna until 1956 before sailing under the Belgian and English flags. In 1992, it was bought by the Port Museum of Douarnenez, then restored by our association “Les Amis du Biche”. Today, Biche is sailing again, a living witness to Breton […]

Grossherzogin Elisabeth was built in 1909 as a trading schooner called San Antonio. In 1936, their rig was dismantled and her diesel engine was replaced with a stronger one. She then traded as a motor coaster until 1971 when she was sold to German owners who refitted the rig and reconstructed her to the sail […]

Thermopylae Clipper is the latest addition to the Discovery Sailing Project fleet and is based on the River Hamble near Southampton. This legendary yacht is a 60 foot cutter built by Colvic Craft in the UK in 1996 and has a great history. She was designed for the Clipper Round the World race and has […]

Merisusi is a Swan 43 and was built in Pietarsaari, Finland in 1971 and is owned by the Finnish Sea Scout Troop “Auran Tahti Pojat” (ATP – which is one of the oldest scout troops and was established in 1917). She replaced the ATPs previous vessel and has been used for educational purposes ever since. […]

Shabab Oman is now a barquentine, but was launched in 1971 as a topsail schooner called Captain Scott, which operated out of Scotland for the Dulverton Trust. The Trust ran outward bound courses for young people lasting 25 days during which time they would be dropped ashore for mountain expeditions and climbing. Captain Scott was […]

Rupel was built on the banks of the river Rupel by unemployed youngsters and launched in 1996. The project to build this gaffed schooner provided these young people with skills that would help them find jobs more easily. In the summer, Rupel sails the Belgian coastline and takes part in the Tall Ships’ Races and […]

“SANTA MARIA MANUELA” (SMM) is a four masted gaff schooner initially launched in 1937, built by Companhia Uniao Fabril, in Lisbon. She began operating in cod fishing being one of the most beautiful vessels of the so famous Portuguese White Fleet. In 1993, due to obsolescence, she was abated to the fishing fleet, being partially […]

The schooner, Johann Smidt, was built in Amsterdam by the Cammenga Shipyard in 1974. She was launched as Eendracht, the first sail training ship for Holland’s Het Zeiland Zeeschip, and took part in many regattas, including previous Tall Ships’ Races and crossed the Atlantic. From the outset she was designed with young people in mind […]

The Tall Ships Challenger Fleet yachts are 22 metre (72 foot) steel hulls built in 2000 and designed to race around the world ‘’the wrong way’’ (against prevailing wind and tide), so are exceptionally strong and seaworthy. There are four yachts in the Challenger fleet and they are operated by the Tall Ships Youth Trust. […]

The Sail and Life Training Society (SALTS) was founded in 1974 and is a registered charity in Canada and the USA (FORGN tax exempt status in the USA). The Society operates two Tall Ships, Pacific Grace and Pacific Swift, and offers sail training to young people aged 13-24 (as well as Day Sails for all […]

STS “Fryderyk Chopin” is the youngest of the Polish tall ships. It was built between 1990-92 in “Dora” shipyard, in Gdansk, for the “International Class Afloat Foundation” as a brainchild idea of its president, Captain Krzysztof Baranowski, and his close co-worker and deputy, Captain Ziemowit Baranski. The ship was designed by Zygmunt Choren, the author […]

The designer, John Alden, had made his name as a builder of elite racing schooners that retained all their beauty and style while constantly winning the premier ocean races of the time. When and If was a new idea: a yacht which would maintain all her classic beauty and hold her own in recreational racing […]

Duet is a wooden gaff rigged yawl. She was built on the River Itchen, Southampton in 1912 and originally called Gaviota. A famous explorer Augustine Courtauld bought her in the 1930’s and renamed her Duet. When he died in 1959, ownership of Duet passed to Augustines son, the Revd Christopher Courtauld who together with Christopher […]