Tall Ships armada sails in for festival
IT was all eyes on the Ulster coastline this week as the first of the Tall Ships armada arrived in the Province.
The Brazilian naval vessel Cisne Branco won the transatlantic race, reaching the finish line at Tory Island off the coast of Malin Head late on Tuesday evening having left Halifax, Canada, last month.
The second-placed vessel, the German Peter von Danzig, took her well deserved rest at Londonderry, while the third-placed Capitan Miranda from Uruguay sailed into Belfast harbour on Thursday.
On Friday night the British boat Rona II arrived at Ballycastle.
After a gruelling 15 days on board the victorious Cisne Branco, surviving storms and high seas, the winning crew were excited to return to land.
Brazilian Bernardo Hermanson told the News Letter he was looking forward to sampling one local specialty – a pint of Guinness – before next week's festival in Belfast.
For the past fortnight, the Cisne Branco has been home to 42 crew members, nine officers and 24 trainees, some of whom had never sailed before.
The ship's name means "white swan". Commanding Officer Captain Flavio Soares Ferreira said its inspiration came from another ship built hundreds of years ago for Brazilian naval students – so “beautiful and fancy”, he said, that it bore the resemblance of a white swan.
“We had difficult sailing conditions – it was very windy and cold,” Capt Ferreira said of their crossing.
“Wind speeds were about 45 to 50 knots and the reading on the Beaufort scale was as high as eight.”
The Beaufort scale measures wind speed and is based mainly on observed sea conditions – when the reading is eight, seamen can expect to be faced with moderately high waves with breaking crests and considerable airborne spray.
The “Class A” Cisne Branco is one of the tallest ships taking part in the 2009 race, standing at just over 152ft.
Capt Ferreira has been sailing the ship for over a year-and-a-half, and enjoys every minute of the time he spends on board.
“It is different from our normal professions,” said the Brazilian, who formerly worked as an engineer.
“To sail in this very large ship is a very, very large challenge and we like that.”
The crew of the Cisne Branco are kept busy every day, mainly in terms of the maintenance of the masts, cables, sails and other engineering-related jobs.
The vessel has already proved itself as a formidable sailing ship – Capt Ferreira revealed that, in last year’s Tall Ships challenge, it arrived in Den Helder in the Netherlands from Bergen in Norway in fourth place out of 23 Class A ships.
Now, its hardworking crew plan to relax and enjoy a bit of downtime on land in Belfast.
“We intend to rest a lot – we are very tired,” said the captain.
He added that the crew would be eating and sleeping on the ship “but we will be allowed to go out and have small travels around the city”.
Ports they will visit include Londonderry, Ballycastle, Carrickfergus and Bangor but other vessels who will join the Atlantic race fleet in Belfast are calling at Warrenpoint and Strangford.
The Tall Ships festival will take place within Belfast’s harbour over five main sites: Clarendon Dock, Pollock Dock, Queen’s Quay and Albert Quay with entertainment also being provided at Custom House Square from Thursday, August 13, to Sunday, August 16, when the magnificent ships are expected to sail together down Belfast lough.
There will be entertainment including a continental market at Queen’s Quay, funfair rides, firework displays and musical performances.
For more information go to www.gotobelfast.com or telephone 028 9024 6609.
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Weather for Belfast
Monday 28 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 12 C to 25 C
Wind Speed: 15 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Sunny spells
Temperature: 12 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 7 mph
Wind direction: South west
