#TALL SHIPS – The first of the Tall Ships has arrived, the barque STS Pogoria, an A-class tallship which berthed in Dun Loaghaire Harbour this afternoon, albeit earlier than expected due to bad weather, writes Jehan Ashmore.

The steel hulled 49m long vessel encountered bad weather in the Bay of Biscay, while taking part in the final race leg from Coruna, where on Thursday night, as previously reported on Afloat.ie, the official finishing line was off Tuskar Rock.

She made her entrance to Dublin Bay, albeit without setting sail and as she motored passed the Kish Lighthouse, she set a course for the South Burford buoy near Dalkey Island. She then headed for Dun Laoghaire rather then Dublin, from where a pilot cutter departed to board the vessel.

STS Pogoria was built for the Steel Workers Union in 1980 and her current status as 'flagship' of The Sail Training Association which is based in Gdansk, and from where she was built. She has a crew of 11 officers and a trainee crew of around 40 personnel.

Over the next few days the fleet of tallships numbering more than 40 vessels, are to arrive in Dublin Port. The next caller is expected to be the  Ecuadorian Navy's sail-training ship Guayas with an ETA of 18.00hrs today. The tallship is also rigged as a barque, yet she is considerably larger, measuring nearly 80m in length and a crew complement of 112 officers and 63 trainees.