The Tall Ships Races are an annual summer event organised by Sail Training International. The UK based organisation is a registered charity (not-for-profit organisation) with worldwide membership and activities. Its purpose is the development and education of young people regardless of nationality, culture, religion, gender or social background through the sail training experience.
Sail Training is an adventure activity for people of all ages and abilities. It includes instruction in all aspects of sailing but its purpose goes far, far beyond this. Sail training uses the experience of being at sea principally as a means to help people learn about themselves, discover hidden strengths and talents and understand the value of working as a team. In some programmes today it forms the setting for much wider aspects of education at sea.
Races and Festivals for sail training Tall Ships began in the mid 1950s. The idea of an international race for sail training Tall Ships, manned by crews drawn from cadets and seamen under training, and to mark what was expected to be the end of the age of sail, was first discussed informally in 1953. The ‘Sail Training International Race Committee’ was established and plans were made for a race between Torbay in the UK and Lisbon in Portugal in July 1956. But instead of marking the end of the age of sail, this first Tall Ships Race heralded the dawn of a new age for sailing ships and sail training. Over the decades since, many new sail training Tall Ships have been built, big and small, and many older ships have been converted to sail training. The fleet that participates in The Tall Ships Races in Europe has grown from just 20 in 1956 to sometimes well over 100 today.
The members of Sail Training International are the National Sail Training Organisations of Australia, Belgium, Bermuda, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, India, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, UK and USA. Other countries that have sail training vessels and participate in events organised by Sail Training International include Argentina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Cayman Islands, Chile, Colombia, Czech Republic, Faroe Islands, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Oman, Romania, and Uruguay.
