The Superyachts Of The Past

The magnificent tall ships arrived in Dublin Ireland last Thursday the 23rd and spent 4 days until they left Dublin Bay on Sunday the 26th. On the Sunday they headed out into the Irish sea with full sails up and anyone who was there to witness, will say, it is a day that will stay with them for ever.

These beautiful ships are the Superyachts of the past and are now iconic in the yachting world. Some of these ships are replicas of older designs that date from the 1700s. Some of the tall ships, like the french flagged 26.7m 'Etoile Polaire' date back to a launch in 1912. The one in the picture above is the Mexican flagged 90.6m 'Chauhtemoc' that is a lot newer and was built in 1982 but still sports the traditional hull lines. The largest on the dock was the 102m Italian flagged 'Amerigo Vespucci' seen in the picture below.

She is the oldest ship sailing in the Italian navy and her motto was taken from the Italinan renaissance artist and scientist Leonardo da Vinci: Non chi cominica ma quel che presevera (Not he who begins, but he who perseveres). She was designed by Lt. Colonel Francesco Rotundi of the corps of naval engineers and built and outfitted in the Castellamare naval shipyard near Naples in southern Italy.

The woodwork and craftsmanship in these tall ships is exquisite and of top quality, that can be seen in the below slideshow. It was a great few days and the event was very well organized by all involved with the crews putting in some long and hard days to keep their ships in tip top condition for all the visitors.