Tall Ships Atlantic Challenge

The fifth and last race of the Tall Ships Atlantic Challenge got under way this afternoon at 1700 hrs local in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The 13 racing vessels took part in  a beautiful parade of sail around the bay in front of Halifax, together with some other vessels that had been in Halifax as part of the festival. Led by local Tall ShipBluenose, the fleet circled the bay in front of a huge crowd of people, many of whom had set out chairs along the quayside hours before the official start of the parade.

The final vessel in the parade of sail was Kruzenshtern, looking slightly odd with her shortened foremast, but nevertheless impressive as her crew scrambled up the mast to prepare the sails to be lowered. The Portuguese ship Sagres looked particularly spectacular as she turned in front of the bridge in full sail and sailed past the cheering crowds and accompanying pleasure craft.

photo: Cisne Branco and Kruzenshtern

The 13 racing Tall Ships then made their way out to the race start area, some five miles off Hartlen Point. The conditions were good with south westerly winds of between 10-12 knots getting the fleet off to a good start. First across the line was the elegant Sagres with Capitan Miranda (Uruguay) crossing just 14 seconds behind her. Third across the line was Europa (Netherlands).

In the combined Class B and D start, Jolie Brise (UK) was quick off the mark and fast over the line. Second over the line and hoisting a bright yellow spinnaker, wasRona II (UK) with Belle Poule (France) in third.

Race control, which is on the Brazilian ship Cisne Branco, will now contact each ship every day to obtain their 1400 hrs GMT position. The fleet’s positions will then be mapped on the Sail Training International fleet tracking software, with their positions on corrected time shown in a table.

The fleet’s progress on the race can be seen via the fleet tracking

The list of all the vessels positions on corrected time can be viewed in the Vessel Positions Update
Further images are available from the Picture Gallery

Sagres leading the fleet across the start line

Photo Credit Sail Training International.

July 12, 2009, St Petersburg – Vladimir Putin – the Chairman of the Government of Russian Federation – was guest of honour at today’s first-race prizegiving of The Tall Ships’ Races in St Petersburg.

Thousands of visitors including crews from over 100 tall ships from 14 countries turned out at the main stage situated at the spectacular location on the Spit of Vasilievsky Island to see Prime Minister Putin present prizes to competitors for the first leg of The Tall Ships’ Races series from Gdynia, Poland.

This Tall Ships festival, which runs for four days (11-14 July), has already gained huge political prestige in St Petersburg and the city, known as the marine capital of Russia, is honoured to be hosting the event once again.

Joining Putin in presenting prizes on the stage at today’s prizegiving ceremony was Valentina Matvienko – the Governor of St Petersburg, and Christer Samuelsson (Race Chairman).

The Tall Ships, including some of the largest square rigged vessels in the world such as St Petersburg-based Mir, Dar Mlodziezy from Poland, and the brand-new Swedish ship – Tre Kronor of Stockholm, are moored up along Lieutenant Shmidt Embankment on the River Neva, and roads along the waterside have been closed to allow the estimated one million-plus visitors the opportunity to take a closer look at these spectacular sail training vessels. Many of the ships are open to the public, and the crew – 50 per cent of which are young people between the ages of 15-25 years – are on hand throughout the festival to guide visitors around the ships and chat about their experiences of life at sea.

The Tall Ships’ Races, which this year started in Gdynia, Poland on Sunday 5 July, will continue with a cruise in company from St Petersburg on Tuesday 14 July through the Finnish archipelago to Turku, Finland. From there, the fleet will set off on 26 July to race its second leg of the series to Klaipeda, Lithuania.

Press Release STI