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Displaying items by tag: Gathering of the Fleet

#MaritimeFestivals - Stormy Stan sailed into Arklow aboard tall ship Ruth recently as part of the build up to Arklow RNLI’s Gathering of the Fleet Maritime Festival.

This August Bank Holiday weekend, Arklow RNLI and Arklow Harbour will play host to vessels of all shapes and sizes from tall ships such as Ruth to Naval Service vessels, vintage and prototype RNLI lifeboats, emergency service vessels and visiting boats from all around the UK, Ireland and further afield for the fundraising festival, which is now over 50 years old and continues to go from strength to strength.

Boat trips, kayaking and windsurfing opportunities will be up for grabs, as well as the special attraction of the Thundercat Experience, where visitors can head out on the water aboard a Thundercat racing boat.

There will be aerial attractions too, with a flying visit by the Garda Air Support Unit and the regular Air Sea Rescue Display with the Irish Coast Guard's Rescue 117 helicopter.

And that's not to mention the activities or landlubbers such as the carnival, food and craft stalls, live music, model boats, emergency service demonstrations and vintage vehicles.

Arklow RNLI volunteer lifeboat press officer Mark Corcoran said: "This weekend really is a must for maritime enthusiasts and all the family. Almost all of the events are free. This is our opportunity to put something back in our town.

"Without our communities continued support we couldn’t continue, so make sure to come down to Arklow this August Bank Holiday weekend for the Gathering of the Fleet-Arklow Maritime Festival."

He added: "There really is something for everybody, so put it in the calendar."

Full details of the festival will be available on the festival's Facebook page, where anyone with a vessel who wants to take part in the festival can make contact. There is also an opportunity for any novice or experienced sailors to arrive at the festival aboard a tall ship – e-mail [email protected] for further details.

Published in Maritime Festivals

About Brittany Ferries

In 1967 a farmer from Finistère in Brittany, Alexis Gourvennec, succeeded in bringing together a variety of organisations from the region to embark on an ambitious project: the aim was to open up the region, to improve its infrastructure and to enrich its people by turning to traditional partners such as Ireland and the UK. In 1972 BAI (Brittany-England-Ireland) was born.

The first cross-Channel link was inaugurated in January 1973, when a converted Israeli tank-carrier called Kerisnel left the port of Roscoff for Plymouth carrying trucks loaded with Breton vegetables such as cauliflowers and artichokes. The story, therefore, begins on 2 January 1973, 24 hours after Great Britain's entry into the Common Market (EEC).

From these humble beginnings however, Brittany Ferries as the company was re-named quickly opened up to passenger transport, then became a tour operator.

Today, Brittany Ferries has established itself as the national leader in French maritime transport: an atypical leader, under private ownership, still owned by a Breton agricultural cooperative.

Eighty five percent of the company’s passengers are British.

Key Brittany Ferries figures:

  • Turnover: €202.4 million (compared with €469m in 2019)
  • Investment in three new ships, Galicia plus two new vessels powered by cleaner LNG (liquefied natural gas) arriving in 2022 and 2023
  • Employment: 2,474 seafarers and shore staff (average high/low season)
  • Passengers: 752,102 in 2020 (compared with 2,498,354 in 2019)
  • Freight: 160,377 in 2020 (compared with 201,554 in 2019)
  • Twelve ships operating services that connect France, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Spain (non-Covid year) across 14 routes
  • Twelve ports in total: Bilbao, Santander, Portsmouth, Poole, Plymouth, Cork, Rosslare, Caen, Cherbourg, Le Havre, Saint-Malo, Roscoff
  • Tourism in Europe: 231,000 unique visitors, staying 2.6 million bed-nights in France in 2020 (compared with 857,000 unique visitors, staying 8,7 million bed-nights in 2019).