Greenock Ready To Set Sail

Crowds will head to Greenock for a final evening of entertainment tonight before the Tall Ships depart tomorrow in a spectacular Parade of Sail.

With more than 110,000 visitors over a sun filled weekend, Greenock has certainly enjoyed hosting the Tall Ships event which will come to a close tomorrow when the fleet leaves James Watt Dock.

The first vessels to set sail will be Alba Explorer and Alba Endeavour, both from the UK, before winner of Race One, Christian Radich, leads the fleet out to Salute Vessel,  SD EVA, approximately 1.5nm.  The final vessel to leave James Watt Dock will be Lord Nelson from the UK.

Councillor David Wilson, the chairman of Sail Inverclyde, said: äóìIt’ terrific to have a world-class event here in Greenock and it has been well received by both locals and visitors. As always, we have saved the best to last. The Parade of Sail is truly breathtaking and we urge visitors to enjoy the best views of both the aerial acrobatics of the Red Arrows and the Parade from Greenock’ Esplanade.”

The fleet will head for their choice of guest harbours up Scotland’ west coast and onward to Orkney and Shetland (between 12 and 21 July) taking in a vast array of wildlife along the way including basking sharks and dolphins.

The nine-day sail between these ports is a non-competitive leg of the Race series and is an opportunity to encourage Tall Ships to visit the selected Guest Harbours prior to their arrival in Lerwick on 21st July.

Participating guest harbours include the ports of Campbeltown, Islay, Oban, Ullapool, Stornoway, Stromness, Kirkwall, Fair Isle, Scalloway, Yell, Unst and/or Whalsay where crews can expect to see a vast array of wildlife including basking sharks and dolphins.

The Tall Ships Races is presented by Szczecin and organised by Sail Training International.