Tall Ships

"The sea is everything. It covers seven tenths of the terrestrial globe. Its breath is pure and healthy. It is an immense desert, where man is never lonely, for he feels life stirring on all sides." Jules Verne

My first experience of sailing was in dinghies quite a while ago now. I have sailed in various dinghies including Enterprise, Wayfarer, Mirror and Snipe.

In 1986 I sailed on the Sail Training Association's schooner Malcolm Miller. The voyage took us from Swansea in South Wales, across the Irish Sea to within sight of the Irish coast. Bad weather forced us back to South Wales where we dropped anchor in Criccieth Harbour. We then beat up the Irish Sea past the Isle of Man to the West coast of Scotland. We travelled up to Tobermory and Oban and after two weeks of hard work finished in Fleetwood.

The Sail Training Association has been renamed the Tall Ships Youth Trust and in 2006 celebrated its 50th anniversary.

In April 2000 the Tall Ships Youth Trust launched a new 195 ft brig called the Stavros S Niarchos which replaces the Malcolm Miller. She's not exactly pretty, although the rig is great. The TSYT subsequently launched the Prince William, a 2nd brig similar to the Niarchos to replace the Sir Winston Churchill (sister ship to the Malcolm Miller).

TSYT have recently added 4 22m Challenge yachts and 19m Cat to their fleet to add more flexibility to the sail training and youth development they offer.

I am a volunteer with the Scotland branch of the TSYT. If you are aged between 14 and 25 and need financial support to sail with the TSYT, please contact me - Lawrence dot Edwards at btinternet dot com.

I sailed on the US tall ship 'HMS' Rose in Spring 2000. Rose is a replica of a British 18th century frigate and is a fully rigged class A wooden ship. I sailed from Antigua in the Leeward Islands - for an account of my experiences and pictures click here.

Rose was subsequently bought by 20th Centruy Fox and starred in the movie Master & Commander. She is now renamed Surprise in honor of her role in the film, the ship is open to the public daily as a dockside attraction at the Maritime Museum of San Diego

The best author of maritime fiction is Patrick O'Brian. Click on the book cover on the right to go to my Patrick O'Brian Aubrey / Maturin novels page.

If you have an interest in tall ships you can join in the discussion at the Delphi forum called Tallships Crews Worldwide.

If you have a tall ships related web site then add it to the Tall Ships WebRing. Membership is free and helps promote your site to others.

Try out this frigate simulator written by Peter Davis: HMS Surprise

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Page last updated : 08 January 2010