From July 11-14, over 60 historic tall ships will be on display across three harbors in Tallinn, with some open for public boarding. These international sailing training vessels have diverse histories, from former fishing and merchant ships to vessels built for military purposes, university training, and government use.
Madis Rallmann, the fleet manager for Tall Ships Races Tallinn 2024, mentioned that in addition to their history, many of the ships stand out due to their size. "For example, in Estonia, the largest sailing ship is approximately 24 meters long, and the next largest is 16 meters. However, most of the ships arriving in our harbors in July are over 30 meters long, and six of them are nearly 100-meter, multi-mast sailing ships," Rallmann noted. The largest ship coming to Tallinn is the Polish three-masted sailing ship Dar Młodzieży, which is nearly 95 meters long and 44 meters high.
Many of the training ships have long histories. The oldest, the Danish ketch Jens Krogh, was built in 1899, while the youngest yacht in the July regatta, the Dutch Urania, was completed in 2004. Many vessels are coming from quite distant countries and are visiting Estonia for the first time, such as the Ecuadorian Navy training ship Guayas. Built in 1977, the Guayas has a hull length of over 64 meters and a height of over 34 meters.
Due to the large number of training ships coming to Estonia in July, they will be spread across three harbors. According to Rallmann, the largest ships will be at the Old City Harbour cruise terminal, as they simply wouldn't fit anywhere else, but there will be notable vessels at both the Seaplane Harbour and Noblessner. "It is important for visitors to know that generally, ships under 30 meters in length are not open for boarding, but the larger yachts will open their decks to visitors. It should be noted that longer queues tend to form around 16:00-17:00, so those who definitely want to board a ship should come in the morning," he added.
Rallmann mentioned that while many modern yachts have less historical background, their origin stories are still fascinating. "For instance, a yacht from Latvia, designed for solo circumnavigation, is currently used for teaching young people. The Finnish Helena is a new training ship that made its first voyages based on the legendary Suomen Joutsen's world tours."
Rallmann recommended everyone to watch the Tall Ships Races Tallinn 2024 crew parade, which will take place on July 12 at 16:00, moving from Tornide väljak to the Seaplane Harbour. "If you don't normally see the crews as a whole, the parade is a great opportunity. You will definitely see bright young people, cool uniforms, and the crews of the large Latin American ships playing their rhythms and dancing. It's like the parade of our song festival," described Rallmann.
The entire event program is available at www.tallshipstallinn.ee, where you can also find information about all the arriving ships.
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