Stylish way to mark milestone
It’s anchors aweigh as Sunderland has reached six months to go to the Tall Ships Races 2018.
On July 11, a magnificent fleet of up to 80 vessels will arrive at the city, heralding four days of celebrations for around 1.5m visitors.
Once Sunderland’s historic event is over, the fleet will be setting sail for Esbjerg in Denmark and the start of the races.
To mark the six month countdown to the festival, organisers commissioned designer Kathryn Russell to create a unique Tall Ships dress, complete with its very own ship’s hat, set on a sea of ‘waves.’
The hand stitched bodice has been worked to resemble ships’ rigging, with a gold thread galleon stitched under the net skirt, while the jacket has a hand embroidered ship’s wheel on the back.
For further information about Tall Ships Races Sunderland 2018 visit www.tallshipssunderland.com
The first Tall Ships Race in 1956 was a race of 20 of the world’s remaining large sailing ships.
The race was from Torbay, UK, to Lisbon, Portugal and was meant to be a farewell to the era of the great vessels.
However, public interest was so intense that the Sail Training International Race Committee formed a founding organisation and has since organised The Tall Ships Races and Regattas annually, around the world.
In 2018, the vessels will leave their host start port, Sunderland, for Esbjerg, Denmark. They will then sail to Stavanger, Norway before ending their journey at Harlingen, the Netherlands. To find out more about Sunderland’s leg of the event, visit https://www.tallshipssunderland.com/