Starting tomorrow, upwards of 50 tall ships will sail up the River Suir and berth along Waterford’s famous quayside, before setting sail for the first leg of the famous Tall Ships Races on Sunday, July 3rd.  During their stay, they will be greeted by a festival featuring street theater, fireworks, music and food.   The tall ships and the festival are expected to attract half a million visitors to Ireland’s oldest city.

WATERFORD: HOST PORT FOR THE TALL SHIPS RACES 2011

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.

When they leave Waterford after the Parade of Sail on July 3, 2011, the Tall Ships will race around Ireland’s south, west and north coast to Greenock, Scotland and most Irish trainees will then return home on scheduled flights from Glasgow Airport. Later, there will be a cruise-in-company from Greenock to Lerwick in the Shetland Isles. The second race in the series will then go from Lerwick to Stavanger, Norway from where the third and final race will bring the fleet to Halmstad, Sweden.

The Tall Ship’s Race is organized by Sail Training International.