#TALL SHIPS - Celebrating the arrival of the Tall Ships to Dublin, the Allianz All-Aboard Liffey Cruise for St Michael's House invites the public to join its maiden voyage of the River Liffey next weekend 23-26 August for just €1.

The unique tour of the city includes a cruise along the Liffey to the new developments at Docklands and the IFSC, and will get you up close and personal with the Tall Ships at Dublin Port - which begin arriving in the capital over the next few days for this year's festival.

Hosting what promises to be fun day out for all ages will be Allianz’s very own Captain Pete, who will be handing out treats to the younger - and not so young! - seafarers on board.  

And what's more, your euro will go towards the great work done by St Michael's House for people with intellectual disabilities. St Michael's House is Allianz's chosen charity this year - find out more about its work.

The tour normally costs €12.60 but a limited number of places are available for booking for just €1 via the Allianz All-Aboard Facebook app HERE. Early booking is advised to avoid disappointment. See terms and conditions.

#tallships – Strong, unseasonal winds of 40mph are propelling the 43 strong fleet in The Tall Ships Races 2012 towards the finishing line ahead of schedule. The race start was delayed because of the strength of the winds, nonetheless the South Westerly gales mean that a race winner will reach the finishing line off the Tuskar Rock some time later tonight.

Currently "Cuauhtemoc" the 1982 Mexican naval vessel ship, that is over 290ft in length, leads the fleet and passed Lands End off the coast of Cornwall earlier today with some 129 miles to run. It is estimated that the first ship could reach Dublin Port this weekend, however, the final vessels are still 3 to 4 days from Dublin.

The full fleet of 40 plus Tall Ships will not all reach Dublin Port until Thursday morning, 23rd of August when The Tall Ships Races 2012 - Dublin Festival will commence.

Preparations are underway for the festival which will run for four days from Thursday the 23rd of August to Sunday 26th and promises to be the biggest free family fun festival in Ireland this year.

Mary Weir, Project Manager for Tall Ships Races 2012 - Dublin commented, "We are looking forward to welcoming The Tall Ships Fleet and are delighted that the race is ahead of schedule. We have arranged an amazing programme of events with the focus on free fun for all the family. The festival will open to the public at 10.00am on Thursday, 23rd of August. Dublin's Docklands have been transformed since the last race and is now very accessible with new Luas Line, two new bridges and the Port Tunnel. Our strong advice is to use public transport next week. We will be announcing the details of the event, transport and access arrangements on Monday, 20th August with our colleagues in Dublin Port and an Garda Síochána. We hope to make this event the biggest outdoor event in Ireland this year."

The Tall Ships Races 2012-Dublin Festival will include some 55 Music Acts including the Undertones, Ryan Sheridan, Gerry Fish, Ash and Scullion at The Bulmers Live Music Dock at George's Dock, over 100 performance acts from trapeze artists to wake boarding to food demonstrations at The Theatre of Food in Linear Park on the North Side of the Quays. Grand Canal Dock will play host to the imaginative Out of The Blue Family Zone while Hanover Quay will come alive with skateboarding, parkour, beatboxing and music with the spectacular Kings of Concrete. Visitors can also try their hand at cable kayaking, pedalo boats, wakeboarding and crazy golf on a pontoon at Grand Canal Dock with Waterways Ireland and Surf Dock.

The Festival Hub at CHQ will welcome guests who are seeking a more chilled out adventure with a beautiful black and white photography exhibition from the Dublin Docklands Preservation Society, a range of workshops including a yoga workshop, upcycling workshops, a mini comic workshop and a striking viking exhibition in the vaults at CHQ and much more. The quays both North and South will overflow with street performances, food and craft markets, walking literary tours and a funfair. As the sun sets on Dublin City the festival will continue with the Glow evening programme which will include a floating cinema on a barge with showings of Jaws, The Life Aquatic and Planet Ocean along with music, street performances and dusk walking tours.

#TALL SHIPS RACES - 'First Mate' Keith Duffy joined Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport Leo Varadkar and new Lord Mayor of Dublin Naoise Ó Muirí on the first day of this year's Tall Ships Races to announce details of the spectacular line-up for the free four-day festival in Dublin from 23-26 August.

Up to 50 magnificent tall ships will sail into Dublin Port, the final host port in the race, for what promises to be Ireland’s biggest festival of the summer. 

“It’s great to see the Tall Ships Races back in Ireland again, following a highly successful visit last year," said Minister Varadkar.

Local organisers Dublin City Council and the Dublin Port Company have programmed an impressive entertainment line-up to cater for all tastes.

Mary Weir, project manager for the Tall Ships Races 2012 Dublin, said: “We are expecting over one million visitors to attend the festival and we want to make sure there is entertainment to suit everyone.  

"We have designed a captivating and exciting line-up of entertainment with everything from food theatres and markets, imaginative children’s areas, a Family Zone, an impressive music line-up with Ash and The Undertones already confirmed, parades, street performances, literary trails and an Urban Street Culture and Watersport Zone.

"We are taking over the quays both North and South and the Docklands for four days. In fact the entertainment offering is so vast we anticipate people visiting the festival over several days to get the most out of all that is on offer - and the best part is that it is all free."

The festival will also be a celebration of Dublin’s maritime history, with the CHQ Building at George's Dock hosting an exhibition programme that will include beautiful black-and-white images of the docks through the ages courtest of the Dublin Dockers Preservation Society. 

Meanwhile, an explosion of colour and celebration is sure to draw huge crowds as up to 1,800 Tall Ship crew members from all over the world will take part in a parade up the quays on Friday 24 August from 3pm-5pm.

The crews will move up the quays in song and celebration to the Custom House where an awards ceremony will take place, acknowledging the incredible journey they will begin on 9 July when they depart from St Malo in France.

The overall winner of the Tall Ships Races 2012 will be revealed along with the winner of Sail Training International’s Friendship Trophy, awarded following a secret ballot in which captains vote for the ship and crew that they believe has done the most to further international friendship and understanding, the main ethos of the event.

Then on Sunday 26 August at 11am, the River Liffey will come alive as the Tall Ships prepare to depart and sail out of the capital in a stunning parade of sail as one of the key highlight of the weekend’s entertainment.

Organisers are also still seeking volunteers to jump onboard and get involved in the festival.

Up to 1,000 volunteers are required for the Tall Ships Races 2012 Dublin to give visitors the warmest of welcomes, help create a great atmosphere and an experience they will never forget. Log onto www.dublintallships.ie/volunteers for more information.

For more details visit www.dublintallships.ie or 'like' the event on Facebook at www.facebook.com/dublintallships to be in with a chance to win a trip of a lifetime for a loved one abroad to celebrate the Tall Ships Races in Dublin.

#TALL SHIPS - The organisers of the Tall Ships Races visit to Dublin are inviting young people to get involved by becoming 'trainees' aboard the fleet as they race from Spain to Ireland this summer.

The 18 ships (as of last November) are set to sail from A Coruña in northern Spain to Dublin on the final leg of this year's race over an estimated ten-day period from 13-23 August.

Young people across Ireland can now apply to be trainees on board the tall ships and take part in a voyage as crew. No previous experience is necessary.

Open information days are planned for this weekend from tomorrow (Friday) 17 February to Sunday 19 February from 12pm to 6pm daily at the CHQ building in the IFSC, close to the Jeannie Johnston museum.

Anyone that is interested in taking part or receiving further information can register at www.dublintallships.ie/trainees/

Meanwhile, organisers are also making funding available for the young people of the capital.

The Dublin City Tall Ships Funding will cover the costs of 25 trainees from Dublin to sail on the ships as they race from Spain.

Any youth organisation within Dublin City Council Administrative Area can nominate members of their organisation. Alternatively, individuals may apply and seek the nomination of a youth organisation such as a youth group or community group; school or college; sports club or Scouts group.

Details about this funding programme and other opportunities are included in the information bulletin attached below.

For further information contact trainee recruitment officer Michael Byrne at [email protected].

#TALL SHIPS - The Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG) has secured three-quarters of the funding it required to refit its research vessel Celtic Mist.

According to The Irish Times, the Clare Local Development Company has approved the allocation of a €48,000 grant towards the refurbishment of the ketch.

The work will be carried out by Cathal Blunnie and several sub-contractors, and involves stripping down the main cabin and removing the bath and shower to increase space for crew berths.

While the ship's clock will be retained, the ship’s wheel in the main cabin will be removed and presented to the Haughey family as a gesture of appreciation.

As previously reported on Afloat.ie, the 52-foot yacht - which was gifted by the Haughey family to the IWDG to assist in its marine wildlife conservation work - entered dry dock last November in preparation for the refit work, after relocating to its new berth at Kilrush, Co Clare in July.

This followed its last jaunt at sea in its former guise, completing a leg of the Tall Ships Races from Waterford to Greenock in Scotland.

The cost of refurbishing the yacht for research and training purposes is expected to top €60,000, with an annual running cost of some €20,000, for which the IWDG is seeking ongoing financial assistance.

The group aims to get the Celtic Mist back at sea before the summer.

#TALL SHIPS - Ireland will be getting a triple dose of the Tall Ships Races this decade - after Waterford last year and Dublin next summer - as Belfast has been chosen to host the first leg of the event in 2015, BBC News reports.

Belfast City Council made the official announcement this afternoon, with Belfast Lord Mayor Niall O Donnghaile saying the return of the event in July 2015 was "another very real endorsement of Belfast's ability".

Northern Ireland's capital last hosted the tall ships in 2009, when some 800,000 visitors thronged the city to see 40 vessels in a parade of sail.

BBC News has more on the story HERE.

#TALL SHIPS - Eighteen vessels are on the entry list for the 2012 Tall Ships Races which are set to conclude in Dublin Port next August.

The list is dominated by British entries, with all nine UK tall ships expected to sail the third and final leg from A Coruña in northern Spain to Dublin.

Tall ships from Russia, Poland, France, Ecuador, Bulgaria, Latvia, Estonia and Belgium will also be in the fray when Ireland's capital hosts the final port of call for the 2012 races, presented by Szczecin in Poland and organised by Sail Training International - a charity established to harness sail training to develop and educate young people regardless of nationality, culture, religion, gender or social background.

The first leg of the 2012 races kicks off in Saint-Malo, France on 7 July with ships racing to Lisbon in Portugal (till 21 July); Cádiz in southern Spain (21-28 July) and A Coruña (28 July-12 August) before the final leg.

Dublin will be hosting the Tall Ships Races for the first time since 1998. Earlier this year Eamonn O’Reilly, CEO of Dublin Port Company, said he was “delighted to welcome the Tall Ships Races to Dublin Port" in 2012.

Since the announcement the port has already played host to the British tall ship Tenacious and the Norwegian vessel S/S Statsraad Lehmkuhl.

From Thursday 23 to Sunday 26 August 2012 as many as 100 ships are expected to arrive in the port and Docklands area for an event that includes a four-day festival programme of music, food and fashion showcases, markets, street theatre, water sport and water-based activities. 

The weekend will also feature activities unique to the races including a crew parade, prize-giving event and a parade of sail.

Are you looking to get involved in Dublin's hosting of the Tall Ships Races? Check out the following links:

Become a trainee www.dublintallships.ie/trainees/

Take part as a volunteer www.dublintallships.ie/volunteers/

For further information see www.dublintallships.ie or e-mail [email protected]

Entry List for the Tall Ships Races 2012:

Akela (Russia)

Black Diamond Of Durham (UK)

Dar Mlodziezy (Poland)

Etoile Polaire (France)

Guayas (Ecuador)

Johanna Lucretia (UK)

John Laing (UK)

Kaliakra (Bulgaria)

Lord Nelson (UK)

Maybe (UK)

Moosk (UK)

Pelican Of London (UK)

Pogoria (Poland)

Rona II (UK)

Spaniel (Latvia)

St Iv (Estonia)

Thermopylae Clipper (UK)

Tomidi (Belgium)

The arrival of the largest and oldest Norwegian tallship the barque S/S Statsraad Lehmkuhl into Dublin Port yesterday made for an impressive sight, even without her sails set, writes Jehan Ashmore.

Her arrival marks nearly a year in advance to Dublin City welcoming the return of the Tall Ships Races, presented by Szczecin and organised by Sail Training International. The capital last hosted the event in 1998 and next year up to 100 tall ships are to sail into the capital which will be the final host port for four days between 23rd-26th August 2012.

Tall Ship S/S Statsraad Lehmkuh in Dublin Bay yesterday. Images: Iain White

The celebration of sail is expected to draw entrants from as far away as Chile, Mexico, Argentina, USA and European and Baltic countries including Italy and Norway will chart their course to Dublin. It is hoped that the event will attract over a million visitors to the city, topping the 500,000 spectators who thronged the Waterford quays during this year's tall ship race gathering.

Photo: Jehan Ashmore

The Celtic Mist sailed to its new berth at Kilrush in Co Clare on Saturday to begin its new life as a marine research vessel.

As previously reported on Afloat.ie, the 52-foot yacht was gifted by the Haughey family to the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG) to assist in its conservation work.

It also recently completed a leg of the Tall Ships Races from Waterford to Greenock in western Scotland - the only Irish entry to compete in the race this year.

According to Irish Weather Online, the yacht will be used for research and surveying of whales, dolphins and other marine wildlife in Ireland, as well as training people to carry out marine surveys by acoustic monitoring.

Irish Weather Online also has images of the Celtic Mist arriving at its new home HERE.