The Race

 
 

The magnificent tall ships will depart Waterford from 7am on Sunday, 3rd July as they head down river to the mouth of the Suir for the start of the Race, with some wonderful vantage points along the coast. Subject to weather conditions, the tall ships will assemble off Dunmore East between 8.30am and 10am.

Most ships will be open to the public from Thursday through to Saturday, from early morning to late evening and admission is free. Over 1,000 crew members from around the world will be welcomed to Waterford and around 100 young people from Ireland will join the ships, as trainee crew members, for the first leg of The Race.

As the ships leave Waterford, they will race around Ireland’s south, west and north coasts to Greenock, Scotland (9th – 12th July). Later, there will be a cruise-in-company from Greenock to Lerwick in the Shetland Isles (21st – 24th July). The second race in the series will then go from Lerwick to Stavanger Norway (28th – 31st July), from where the third and final race will bring the fleet to Halmstad, Sweden from 5th – 8th August.

 
 
After two years of preparations involving an estimated 13,760 hours of voluntary effort, Waterford successfully hosted The Tall Ships Races 2011 from June 30-July 3.
It’s estimated that 500,000 people enjoyed the spectacle in the city and along the Suir Estuary. To all those individuals and organisations that made this huge international event possible and to the people of Waterford who embraced the occasion brilliantly – thank you. To those who visited Waterford, we look forward to welcoming you back soon and invite you to visit www.discoverwaterfordcity.ie to keep up-to-date on what’s happening in Ireland’s oldest city. To the sail training family at the heart of The Tall Ships Races, we look forward to your return!

Here we showcase a small selection of Dylan Vaughan’s photography from four magical days.