Yesterday, my wife and I went down to Greenwich to see the Parade of Sail – the finale to the five-day Tall Ships Festival.
The Tall Ships Festival is an annual event in London, but this year’s event has seen the largest fleet of tall ships assembled in London for 25 years. The vessels arrived in London after a race from Falmouth, Cornwall and have been moored across four sites: Greenwich Maritime, Greenwich Peninsula, West India Dock at Canary Wharf and Woolwich for the last few days. Over the course of five days there have been opportunities to visit many of the ships, and enjoy the festival atmosphere including live music, entertainment, stalls and other activities. And the weather has been fine.
The finale was worth waiting for. Fifty-four ships assembled up-stream of the festival sites and as we arrived one of the stars of the show the Polish three-masted Dar Mlodziezy slipped her moorings on the Greenwich Peninsula and sailed past us to be positioned at the head of the Parade. When she returned a set of sails had been unfurled, and although all the ships were using motor power to proceed down-stream, all had some of their sails unfurled, which added greatly to the magnificence of the sight.
The crowds were huge, there wasn’t a spare space in the front row of spectators and quite a few images were only possible by adopting the tactic of holding the camera above everyone else’s heads, employing live view, and ‘hoping’.
The ships were of all shapes and sizes from the multi-masted square-rigged tall ships, to ocean-going racing yachts, and Luggers that once would have worked the coastal waters of the UK. And for this race and festival the majority of the crews on these boats were young people, many of them having their first experience of sailing.
This was one of those events from which you come away and think: I’m so glad we were there to see that. Below is a gallery of images for you to look through. As always click on the first image and then navigate through.
They are so impressive Andy. Amazing ships!
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Thanks Norma. Yes, it really was an impressive sight. I would have loved to see one of those big ships in full sail.
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I’ve only been to one of these festivals and it was a lot of fun. Your photos have taken me back to that great day.
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I’ve never seen a fleet of ships quite like that. A pretty special day. Thanks Ken.
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Great images Andy, and wonderful subject material
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Thanks very much, Paul. It was a great day out. I must explore the banks of the Thames a little more I think.
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Great photoshots Andy…I would love to see these
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Thanks James. It was certainly well worth seeing.
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This must have been wonderful, and these ships are just magnificent!
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Thanks Lisa. It was an extraordinary sight as ship and after ship glided by.
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Andy, what a great set my friend!! What an event, it’s obvious you enjoyed it immensely!
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Many thanks Toad. Yes, it was well worth visiting. I don’t expect there will be a gathering of Tall Ships as good as this for quite a few years.
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Magnificent aren’t they? A superb set of photos Andy!
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Magnificent they certainly were. Majestic to see them floating down the Thames, one after another. Thanks Adrian.
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You did them proud Andy! Something so humbling about the arrival of these ships with the billowing sails and the romance of years gone by!
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Thank you so much for that, Kathryn. You can’t beat a big ship under sail for raising the emotions.
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