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Daily Record
15-07-2025
- Daily Record
Everything you need to know about Tall Ships Races 2025 as iconic event comes to Aberdeen
Around 400,000 visitors are expected as Aberdeen is set to host Europe's "biggest free family festival" Aberdeen is preparing to welcome one of Scotland's biggest tourism spectacles of the year as the final countdown begins for the Tall Ships Races 2025. Almost 50 majestic sailing vessels from across the globe will descend on the Granite City from this Friday, July 18, ahead of four days of festivities from Saturday, July 19, to Tuesday, July 22. Organisers are expecting around 400,000 visitors to the city during the event, which is billed as Europe's largest free family festival. It is almost 20 years since Scotland's biggest port welcomed the prestigious international sailing event The Tall Ships Races last came to Aberdeen in 1997, having also been there in 1991. The races are designed to promote international friendship and offer young people hands-on experience in the art of sailing. The vessels are split across four classes ranging from grand tall ships to nimble single-masted boats. They will begin arriving on Friday following a race leg from France. They will remain docked in Aberdeen until Tuesday, when they set sail for Norway. The ships will be berthed across several quaysides: Waterloo, Regent, Trinity, Upper, Jamieson's and Blaikies. The main entrance to the viewing areas will be via Marischal Street, and many of the ships will be open to visitors keen to step aboard. Among the fleet is Dar Mlodziezy from Poland, the tallest ship taking part at an impressive 62.5 metres high. Her name means 'the gift of youth', and she made her Tall Ships debut in 1982. The vessel that has travelled furthest to reach Aberdeen is BAP Union from Peru, covering a staggering 7,500 nautical miles (almost 14,000km) from Callao. Built in 2015, it is also the newest ship in the line-up. At the other end of the spectrum is Christiania, a 130-year-old beauty built in 1895. Roughly 2,000 crew members from countries as far-flung as Uruguay and Oman will participate, supported by hundreds of local volunteers. Music, food and family fun Aberdeen is set to transform into what organisers are calling a 'party city'. Major headline gigs from Deacon Blue, Kaiser Chiefs, and Ministry of Sound Classical are already sold out, while an eclectic programme of free live music will fill the city. The entertainment includes sets from Tide Lines, Calum Bowie, Glasvegas, Brooke Combe, The Little Kicks, Capollos, and Look Busy Collective. The festival will also showcase Scottish traditional music, jazz, hip hop, Afrobeat and Latin soul, along with performances from local choirs and youth ensembles. Families can head to Blaikies Quay, where a dedicated kids' zone will feature a giant sandpit and a chance to meet Dorry the Dolphin, the official Tall Ships Aberdeen mascot. Join the Daily Record WhatsApp community! Get the latest news sent straight to your messages by joining our WhatsApp community today. You'll receive daily updates on breaking news as well as the top headlines across Scotland. No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the Daily Record team. All you have to do is click here if you're on mobile, select 'Join Community' and you're in! If you're on a desktop, simply scan the QR code above with your phone and click 'Join Community'. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose 'exit group'. If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice. Travel advice and road closures With thousands expected each day, the city centre will be extremely busy. Organisers are urging people to walk, cycle, car share or use public transport where possible. Four regular Park and Ride sites will operate from Bridge of Don, Craibstone, P&J Live, and Kingswells. A number of road closures and parking restrictions will be in place around the harbour area, including Castle Street, King Street, Marischal Street, Regent Quay, Blaikies Quay, and Regent Road. Footdee's Pocra Quay and New Pier Road will remain accessible for residents and businesses only. For full maps, transport guidance and ship details, visitors are advised to check the official Tall Ships Aberdeen website.
BBC News
13-07-2025
- BBC News
Tall ship on the Thames: Aboard the Peruvian navy's pride and joy
It seems every time an interesting ship or boat arrives in the capital, I am dispatched to recent months, I have boarded the Nao Santa Maria - a faithful replica of the vessel Christopher Columbus sailed upon when he first explored the Americas. I filmed the Royal Navy warship, HMS Sutherland as it powered under Tower Bridge. Around the 80th anniversary of VE Day, I got to know HMS Belfast very well. And at the more modest end of the scale, there was a very wet paddle along the Limehouse Cut Canal with the jovial attendees of an all-women boat club. This time, I explored the BAP Unión from Perú, moored for a week at West India Dock on the Isle of charismatic captain, Juan Jose Roncagliolo Gomez suggests a pidgin language for us to communicate in: "Spanglish?"I agree. Time to see if my 600-day streak on a popular language-learning app translates to the real world. Capt Gomez explained the BAP Unión, built in a Peruvian shipyard between 2012 and 2015, is the largest of its kind in Latin however, does not give the ship enough respect, he feels."It is the biggest, the prettiest and the most modern." The BAP Unión has two is a training ship for the Peruvian Navy, 227 of whom are on board when I are high in the rigging, folding away the other purpose of this vessel, is to act as an ambassador for its home Gomez said he wanted to know about our culture and our "impressive history".He said he is especially pleased his midshipmen, who are also his friends have the opportunity to "increase their cultural diversity in this beautiful city". Cadets spend six months working on board. Midshipman Juan Baca, 21, said crossing the Atlantic had been "challenging", but after three days, he was used to the motion."It is very fun - you get to see a lot of sea animals - got a chance to see whales, dolphins. "And I mean, so far so good - I'm having the time of my life here."He hopes to visit, the Tower of London and Houses of Parliament. His crewmate, Matías Reyes, also 21, adds Big Ben and Buckingham Palace to their tourist wish list - and some football said he missed his mother and brothers but his colleagues have become "like family"."I see them all day - for the breakfast, for the lunch, for the dinner. "We make exercise together. We do everything together. I feel them like my brothers." Salons and stained glass A tour of the ship revealed corridor walls covered with plaques received as gifts, framed maps of round-the-world navigations and the many global ports the BAP Unión has visited since first setting sail in midshipman mess room doubles as a classroom during the day and there are VIP state rooms for special guests - including an elegant salon to host diplomatic bigwigs.I am less keen on the dentist's cabin, imagining tooth-pulling on a choppy sea. And the doctor's cabin can be adapted into an operating Peruvian coat of arms glows in a stained glass window, other circular panels covering portholes trace the naval history of the country. Central in the room, is a bust of Miguel Grau, the Peruvian naval hero, known as the Gentleman of the Sea. Capt Gomez said that he flauts one of the oldest traditions - that a commander should eat alone as they make better decisions in quipped: "Nowadays I die if I'm alone here".By now, the BBC London camera operator, Cristian, is buckling after the continuous 27-minute shot filmed on a gimbal, so I suggest we call it a wrap. We were brought dainty glasses of Pisco. The third sip of the strong grape brandy made me cough, which the naval officers found were then accompanied, as if old friends, back to dry land. Here in the capital, she's drawn crowds, which helps the tourist industry - according to a Port of London report, the River Thames generates more than £2bn for the economy in tourism and leisure this latest embarkment improved my nautical knowledge or raised my comfort levels? Well, not really. I am perpetually confused as to whether the stern is the back or the front. And frankly, should my editor suggest a report from a moving ship, there would be mutiny. But with so many visiting vessels on the River Thames, perhaps one day I will overcome my wobbly sea legs to earn my stripes. The BAP Unión continues her tour of the UK, next berthing in Aberdeen.
