No room in Orkney to host Tall Ships race

August 22, 2011 at 4:04 pm

First Tall Ship Arrives in Orkney — The Eendracht, the first Tall Ship to arrive in Kirkwall for the cruise in company event earlier this summer. (Picture: Craig Taylor)

Despite the success of the Tall Ships events held earlier this summer, Orkney Islands Council have decided not to apply to be a host port for the 2015 Tall Ships Race, due to lack of harbour capacity.

Last month, Kirkwall and Stromness were included as cruise in company ports and saw 31 ships visit and a number of highly popular events take place.

Councillors discussed the issue at a meeting of the policy and resources committee this morning.

It had been initially hoped that the ships could have been hosted both in Kirkwall and Stromness, and Orkney could have been put forward as a host ‘port’.

However, councillors heard that the race organiser’s rules state that the ships have to be located in one race port. This means there is not the capacity to host over 50 tall ships in Kirkwall, even with an extended Hatston Pier.