What is the Tall Ships Race?
I’ve heard it said that the Tall Ships’ Race is where a lot of people get together and tell tall stories! The Tall Ships’ Races, so-called, started in the mid 1950s as an attempt to get together for one final fling, the few remaining square-rigged sailing vessels. There was a race in 1955 from Torquay to Lisbon. The thing was, it was such a success that they decided to do it again. It rapidly became a fixture. These sail training vessels that remained, remained because they were being used for training typically by various national navies. So the whole system of sail training events grew up and it came to be realised that actually the chief benefit of these things was the opportunity for young people, from different countries, to meet together within the context of a friendly rivalry at sea. So that’s still the basis of the thing. The big square-riggers are there and apparently this year (2001) there’s a record number of square riggers booked: something extraordinary like 23 already, w
