| Portugal. Host ports and course announced for Funchal 500 Tall Ships Regatta 2008 |
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| Friday, 21 July 2006 | |
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Corinne Hitching: Host ports for the Funchal 500 Tall Ships Regatta 2008 were announced in Lisbon today during a reception on the Portuguese sail training ship Sagres for the fleet competing in this year’s 50th Anniversary Tall Ships’ Races. The Regatta will take place in September 2008 and is being organised by Sail Training International. Falmouth in the south west of England has been selected as the start port. The fleet will race from there at the beginning of September 2008 to Port of Aveiro, in Ílhavo, Portugal, before a second race to Funchal, Madeira. “The Regatta fleet will be the focus of a major festival in Funchal celebrating the port’s five centuries of maritime heritage,” said Nigel Rowe, President and Chairman of Sail Training International. “We wanted to select other ports for this event that also have very strong but quite different maritime histories and traditions. Falmouth and Ílhavo bring these qualities, along with a firm commitment to sail training and the promise of providing a large number of trainee crew from their communities to sail in the Regatta.” “The Funchal 500 Tall Ships Regatta will be the centre-piece of year-long celebrations in 2008 commemorating the 500th anniversary of Funchal’s founding,” says Miguel Filipe Machado de Albuquerque, Mayor of Funchal. “By 2008 the commercial port in the heart of our city will be transformed into a leisure destination port to attract tourism. Funchal now plans to join the growing international family of ‘sail training friendly’ ports.” “Ílhavo, with the Port of Aveiro, has been an important hub of the fishing industry for centuries, but is now a commercial port adjacent to extensive beaches and a rapidly growing centre for tourism in Portugal,” says José Ribau Esteves, Mayor of the Municipality of Ilhavo. “We look forward to welcoming the fleet and to sharing both our maritime heritage and vacation facilities with the participating trainees.” “Falmouth has played host to the international Tall Ships fleet before and now has a permanent organisation in place to welcome sail training ships,” said Councillor Mike Cox, Chairman of Carrick Council. “Hosting the fleet for the Funchal 500 Tall Ships Regatta will serve to strengthen this activity, as well as the tourism and economic interests of this part of Great Britain. We are delighted with the decision” Provisional dates: Falmouth (3 – 6 September). Ílhavo (Porto of Aveiro), Portugal, (14 – 17 September). Funchal, Madeira (25- 28 September). Confirmation of dates, more details on what is planned in each host port, entry forms and Racing & Sailing Rules, will be published later this year. The Funchal 500 Tall Ships Regatta 2008 is organised by Tall Ships International Limited, a wholly owned company of Sail Training International. www.sailtraininginternational.org |
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| Last Updated ( Friday, 21 July 2006 ) |
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