As 2020’s event fell victim to Covid, demand was strong amongst this year’s attendees, with all spots filled eight months beforehand. This really is a place where you will see everything and anything tied up along the eight kilometres of dockage, from the smallest Welsh coracle to tall ships with dozens of crew members. As well as the on-water show, various themed areas and stages abound. You’re as likely to come across Tahitian dancers as Celtic bagpipe bands and LBGT choirs of ‘nuns’.
As well as the official attendees, it seems generally accepted that any local with a wooden dinghy or dory can float about in the port, so long as they don’t get in the way, or try and tack out in front of the manoeuvring giants. Those that do get lots of hand gestures from the army of supporting RIBS.
Whilst the tall ships had snaking lines of visitors queuing up for tours, it’s the myriads of smaller vessels under 100 feet (30.5m) that grab the attention. Whale boats, French Langoustiners, New England catboats, Brixham trawlers, classic yachts, they’re all here. Even varnished classic race yachts have been trailered in from places as far away as Switzerland and Sweden.
Boats of similar ilk are grouped together where possible, but at any time many were out in the bay with sails up, generally having a good time and providing an amazing spectacle for those watching from shore. Often the only way to find out anything about what’s in front of you was to ask of the crew on board, “what’s this then?” Here are a few.
Galway Hookers
The Galway Hooker Sailing Club had trailered over three boats and 40 members from the west of Ireland, and were generally having an excellent time, being used to sailing in the rain, which swept through the event on a couple of days. These gaff-rigged, black-hulled boats were used for fishing and carrying cargo around the Galway Bay area. With open decks and stone ballast, those present were the smaller representatives, handy enough to carry a few passengers and be beached for unloading. The Irish diaspora built boats of similar lines in Boston, and the club is hoping to ship a Hooker over there for a future event.
Germania VI
Commissioned by a member of the Krupp family as an ocean racer, and built in Germany in 1963, Germania VI carries classic Sparkman and Stevens lines. One of the first welded aluminum hulls, she is still based in Kiel as a sail training yacht. With the S+S centenary coming up in 2029, there might be plans to get her to Newport for the event.
Carrie
Graham Benson sailed his 1983 Heard 23 Falmouth Working Boat over 500 miles from Scotland, after being thwarted in 2020 due to Covid. The month-long trip via Wales and the Scilly Isles involved several crew changes and a new outboard. Sporting
a large Scottish flag, he was out with the rest of the fleet on the sunny days, happy to finally be here. In the size versus distance awards, he must have been up there.
Les Trois Freres
It must be said, the French look after their small boat maritime heritage better than most, with a multitude of small associations up and down the coast caring for one or two boats of local relevance or historical value. Typical of this is Les Trois Freres, a Morbihan Sinagot, built in 1943. A general inshore oyster dredger/seiner/fishing boat, she’s now registered as
a historical monument. Strong timbers and a generally open deck point to a hard life on the open seas around Brittany.
As with all French festivals, food is omnipresent; everything from traditional French moules et frites to Polynesian dishes, and places in between.
Brest is a huge festival, and it can feel a bit impersonal and exhausting. In contrast, the biannual Douarnenez Maritime Festival held the following weekend a bit further down the coast is a much more grassroots affair, with the boats being more accessible, and fewer of the tall-ship giants. To get from one port to the other, a mass parade of sail takes place on the preceding Thursday, passing close to many viewing headlands.
Douarnenez has a long history of building working boats – there are still a few traditional yards lining the river, and last–minute preparations were still ongoing in the days leading up to the festival.
If you happen to be passing by France in the summer, these festivals are well worth a visit. Even better would be to book a berth on a visiting yacht and combine a channel passage from the UK as well as attending. Interestingly, despite a large Pasifika presence, there were no waka ama or a Kiwi presence of any kind. Perhaps for 2028 a combined waka/haka group could be an idea?
Words and Photography by Chris Barker
