The first leg of this year¹s epic Tall Ships Atlantic Challenge is set to start on Sunday 3rd May and the Tall Ships taking part in the event are now in Vigo, Spain. The 7,000 mile odyssey around the North Atlantic will see a variety of Tall Ships from Europe, South America and the US competing in an event involving seven ports, five countries and hundreds of crew members.
(picture above shows the Kruzenshtern arriving at Vigo)
While in Vigo, the ships¹ crews are preparing for the first part of the adventure which will take the fleet south-west to Tenerife, where more ships will join the fleet ready for the transatlantic race to Bermuda. The race across the Atlantic will take between three and four weeks to complete, during which time the crews will have to take it in turns to be on watch, helm, navigate and get the best out of their vessel.
Every day during the race, each vessel will be contacted by race control to establish their positions as at 1400 hrs GMT. These positions will then be plotted onto a map allowing friends and relatives to follow the fleet as they progress across the Atlantic. The fleet tracking can be viewed on
www.tallshipsraces.org. The class positions of the vessels will also be available on the website.
When the fleet arrives in Bermuda they will form part of island¹s 400th anniversary, an event that is sure to make history. From 11th to 15th June the Tall Ships can be seen in Hamilton, the capital of Bermuda, before leaving in a spectacular Parade of Sail on 15th June.
A third race will take the Tall Ships to Charleston, South Carolina, USA. There the ships will form part of the Charleston Harbor Fest from 25th to 29th June before departing for another race up the east coast of the USA to Boston, Massachusetts where they will join Sail Boston from 8th to 13th July. A short hop up the coast to Halifax, Nova Scotia, in Canada where the Tall Ships Atlantic Fleet will gather from 16th to 20th July before departing for the second Atlantic crossing eastbound to Belfast, Northern Ireland, where they will have their final festival and prize giving from 13th to 16th August.
For the more adventurous, there is still time to sign up to sail on board one for one of the later races. No prior experience is necessary so as long as you have the spirit of adventure and a pair of deck shoes and shorts, you can be off to sunny climes. Imagine departing Bermuda on a Tall Ship
surrounded by a flotilla of pleasure boats in the turquoise seas and racing to the southern charm of Charleston! Those with more time may like to experience the highs and lows of sailing across the Atlantic to Belfast on either a square rigged ship or one of the smaller and faster racing yachts
that will be taking part.
More information on the Tall Ships Atlantic Challenge can be found on www.tallshipsraces.org where there will be regular updates, pictures and access to the fleet tracking.
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