Port Ellen is chosen as 'Guest Harbour' in the Tall Ships Race of 2011 organised by Sail Training International. I have been to several of these events and I can promise you that it's an awsome sight to see these huge sailing boats arriving. The 'Cruise in Company' leg of the world famous Tall Ships Race will leave Greenock on 12 July 2011 and the first port of call for a number of the magnificent vessels is likely to be Port Ellen. The Harbour Association has been successful in its bid to have the village included as 'Guest Harbour 2' on the ships' route to Lerwick, the others en-route to the Shetlands being Campbeltown, Oban, Stornoway, Stromness and Lerwick. EventScotland, the national events agency has provided £25,000 funding for pr and marketing.

The Tall Ships Race 2011 will start in Waterford Ireland on 30 June 2011 and will finish in Halmstad, Sweden, on Monday 8 August 2011. Other events that are organised by Sail Training International are Sail Amsterdam which I visited several times, Sail Bremerhaven and the 2010 Tall ships race which will be held mainly in the North-Sea between Antwerp (Belgium), Aalborg (Denmark), Kristianstad (Sweden) and Hartlepool in the UK. Below a promotional video to get you in the mood! The top image shows the Amerigo Vespucci, an Italian training ship.

Tag: port ellen tall ships