Blue Clipper

 

Blue Clipper departing from Oban.

Some information from the ships official website.

Blue Clipper was built in 1991 at Feab Marstrandsverken in Sweden. She was once owned by the famous Brandy company Hennessey and was originally named ‘Spirit of Hennessey.’ She has appeared in various TV programmes and commercials including the Trade Winds TV series starring Hugh Johnson. Following her time sailing with Hennessey, she went on to be privately owned and spent her time sailing in Mediterranean waters under a Maltese flag.

Purchased by current owner Steve Swallow in 2016 and now named Blue Clipper, she has had a major overhaul both inside and out and has been painted a deep-sea blue – much more in keeping with her name!

She now spends her summers in Northern European waters, competing in regattas and running subsidised sail training programmes in her spare time. Steve runs Blue Clipper as a non-profit organisation. Whatever he makes from guest pleasure holidays, he reinvests into community projects for schools and youth groups giving young people an amazing opportunity to experience life on a tall ship!

In the winter she makes her way to the warmer climes of the Caribbean via Portugal to have her annual spruce up and maintenance work completed.

TS Maybe

TS Maybe has a rather famous history, built in 1929 and owned by Jan Jacob Van Rietschoten, father of the flying Dutchman, Cornelis ‘Conny’ Van Rietschoten, the only skipper to win the Whitbread Round the World Race twice. In the hands of the Rietschoten family, TS Maybe spent many years sailing around the world.

A major milestone in Maybe’s history is that she took part in the first ever International Tall Ships Race in 1956. She is now one of the few boats that took part in that first race to still be competing in the International Tall Ship Races. A real claim to fame!

In 1962, TS Maybe was bought by the Swiss family Hans Fehr, who were experienced sailors and enjoyed sailing in warmer climates. She sailed mainly around the Mediterranean and in the 1970s regularly crossed the Atlantic between the West Indies and the Mediterranean. IN the 1980s she also sailed through the Panama Canal and up the East coast of the USA to Canada.

Tall ship Maybe was sold to her present owners in 1989 and underwent another complete restoration retuning to sailing in 2007. She returned to the International Tall Ship Races in the Baltics in 2009. In 2011, TS Maybe was restored to her original gaff rig.

Click HERE for the owners website

Kommandøren

Built in 1891, the Kommandøren was typical of a small Danish cargo vessel of the period. In 1972 she was purchased by Erik Hays Thegersen and names “Kommandøren” of Rømø and berthed in Københaven. In 1983 she moved to the UK to act as a home base for Hays Ships Ltd. Kommandøren continues to be used to promote Hays Ships

Maybe

Tall ship passing Greenock.

Spirit of Fairbridge

Spirit of Fairbridge is a Sail Training Schooner operated by The Prince's Trust.  

St Hilda

St Hilda is a traditional beamy, 54ft wooden (larch on oak) ketch.
 She was built in 1973 in the St Monans family boatyard in Fife, specifically for sail training with a crew of 14. She is one of the smallest of the “Tall Ships” and has competed in several Tall Ship races.
She operates from the Holy Loch offering sailing hollidays in the west of Scotland.