IT’S fitting that Belfast, with its long maritime history, should be hosting the start of the Tall Ships Race.
Ships from across the globe will anchor in Belfast Lough as part of the Lidl Belfast Titanic Maritime Festival.
The craft will be berthed in and around Belfast Harbour and the Titanic Quarter area for the four days of the festival.
Some of the ships will also be open to the public for a unique opportunity to explore and learn about life on board these giants of the sea.
This is the third time that Belfast has hosted the races, having previously welcomed the ships in 1991 and 2009.
Both previous visits were incredibly successful, and proved very popular; in 2009 around 800,000 spectators came to the four-day event, when a flotilla of 40 ships berthed along the city’s quays.
This year’s event is expected to attract some 50 craft, and as many as a million spectators - making it probably Belfast’s biggest event ever.
The annual Tall Ships Race, run by Sail Training International (STI), a British-based charitable organisation, is specifically for sail training.
The ‘tall ships’ which can be anything from large yachts to square-riggers - the only specification is size and propulsion by wind only.
The races are held annually in European waters and consist of two racing legs of several hundred nautical miles.
Over one half of the crew of each ship participating in the races must consist of young people.
Race Director Paul Bishop paid tribute to Belfast’s enthusiasm and expertise in hosting the event.
“We’re delighted to bring the Tall Ships Race fleet back to Belfast following our successful visits in 1991 and 2009,” he said.
“Belfast has a great maritime heritage and is renowned as a ‘sail training friendly port’. The crews are guaranteed a terrific welcome before racing to Aalesund, Norway, in the first leg of The Tall Ships Races 2015.”
After Aalesund, the ships will head for Kristiansand in Norway and then on to Aalborg in Denmark.
The Tall Ships Race will be the centrepiece of the four-day Maritime Festival, which takes place from July 2-5, but activities will also include music, street theatre, water sports, tours, talks and fireworks at venues around Belfast Harbour and the Titanic Quarter.
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