Bristol Harbour Festival is rapidly approaching this weekend. The weather is looking glorious and the scene is set to celebrate the event’s 50th anniversary in the sun.
More than 250 different vessels of every imaginable shape, size and design will bring their own nautical flair to the event. These include seven tall ships which will sail into the harbour over the next few days and moor in the docks for the duration of the festival.
Tall ships set to dock at this year’s festival include Grayhound, built in Cornwall in 2012. Grayhound encourages people to sail on-board with its expert team - providing a low carbon alternative to traditional cargo transport.
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Built in 1930, the TS Anny of Charlestown, will also be docked at the harbour. First used in the fishery in the Baltic and North Seas until 1972, since 2019 it has been operating out of Charlestown Harbour, Cornwall.
The other visiting majestic tall ships include Olga, Iris, Klevia, Vilma and the Pelican of London. The Pelican of London will be taking a crew of young people from Bristol back to Ireland on board as part of a sailing experience programme in collaboration with charity Seas Your Future.
But the tall ships are only part of the floating fun at this weekend’s festival. The iconic Cardboard Boat Race and Young Shipwrights Boat Race return to set sail on Saturday close to Prince Street Bridge. In support of the My Future My Choice Learning Ships project, the race will see local teams including primary school children, who have created vessels out of cardboard, race their boats over a 250m course.
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Special prizes will be handed out for the most innovative vessels. Guests wanting to get involved with the My Future My Choice projects should board the MV Balmoral, moored at Mardyke Quay on Hotwells Road, to try their hand at creating their own mini land yacht.
This year is also the 75th anniversary of the twinning between Bristol and Hannover in Germany, signed after WW2 in the spirit of reconciliation, friendship and the desire to build a stronger Europe. This year’s festival will welcome the Mayor of Hannover, Thomas Hermann, alongside a barrel of Hannover gin aboard a traditional open wooden sailing boat from Hannover.
Elsewhere on the water, guests can head on over to watch daredevil stunts from national freestyle champion and world professional freestyle jet skier, Jack Moule, and take in the colourful boats dressed for the occasion and vying for the position of best-dressed boat.
Attendees can also catch James Prestwood’s professional flyboarding throughout Saturday as well as see steam boats organised by Chew Valley locals Kevin and Gillie Slater on behalf of the Steam Boat Association of Great Britain.
There will also be plenty of feature vessels to look out for at this year’s festival. These include the Pyronaut fire boat and John King tug boat at M Shed, and MV Balmoral (1949), which is one of the last surviving ships of its type.
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