TALL SHIPS AND SAIL TRAINING

摘要

The first Tall Ships Race in 1956 was intended as a farewell to the great sailing ships, as commercial sail disappeared from the face of the oceans. It did not turn out like that: in the intervening decades, as commercial sail has vanished, new sailing ships have been built or restored at an increasing rate. There are now more sailing ships at work than at any time in the last eighty years. Sail Training International (STI), which runs the Tall Ships Races, classifies vessels by size and rig: Class A comprises the square riggers and sailing vessels of any rig over 40m. Worldwide, there are now over 120 of these and new vessels are being launched in Oman, India and even the Czech Republic, with credible plans for a new British ship whose design would make her the world's largest at 200m.