The Festival will be staged over nine days from Friday 19 February to Saturday 27 February, 2010. These dates include the inaugural Melbourne Wooden Boat Festival in Victoria Harbour, Docklands and the Melbourne Tall Ships Festival in Williamstown.

• Tall Ships come in many rigs and sizes. Not all are majestic square-rigged ships, yet all have individuality and public appeal.
• Invitations will be issued to all Australian tall ships and sail training vessels, and to ships of the international Tall Ships fleet in the Southern Hemisphere.
• The aim is to attract to Port Phillip at least 4 large (Class A – square-rigged) ships, 10 medium-sized ships and 30 smaller vessels.
• Classic yachts already based in Port Phillip or in other Australian ports would be invited to take part in the Festival, particularly in the Parade of Sail, which will be one of the spectacles of the Festival.

• The ships are the stars of any Tall Ship Festival, but their crews bring the event to life. The planned visiting Tall Ships would carry upwards of 2,000 crew between them, plus supporting families, shore parties and overseas enthusiasts; this core of participants is expected to attract many of thousands of spectators to join in the water and land-based activities of the Festival.

• Tall Ships alone are a magnificent sight and a consistent and reliable attraction. Our concept of a Tall Ships Festival encompasses many more of the experiences Victoria has to offer and to ensure expansion of the event to include people of all ages, backgrounds and interests the business plan for the Festival will explore:

• Arrival, welcome and departure events
• Cultural and multi-national celebrations
• Australia Day celebrations include a Parade of Sail
• Tall Ship races
• Participation in Skandia Geelong Week
• Interstate and international crew exchanges
• Opportunities for the public to sail on some of the ships
• Introduction to sail training for local young people
• Sponsored participation for students and other people from regional Victoria
• Themed shore-based events eg. food and wine, entertainment etc
• Links with relevant Victorian tourist, educational and historical attractions eg. Gold Rush and Sovereign Hill, Immigration Museum, Melbourne Maritime Museum & Polly Woodside, Seaworks at Williamstown, Wool Museum at Geelong

• Tall Ships Victoria is bringing the same sense of quality, professionalism and attention to detail to bear on the Melbourne International Tall Ships Festival 2010 as its founders did in the organisation of the very successful 2006 Melbourne visit of Sydney Heritage Fleet’s historic Tall Ship James Craig.
• The Festival will be organised based on successful procedures honed by Sail Training International, which has organised Tall Ships’ Races in many countries over the past fifty years.

• Tall Ships provide a natural and publicly accessible link to waterfront development and enhance the use of maritime facilities.
• Organisational networks and infrastructure improvements for the Festival would leave a lasting legacy for the future operation and enjoyment of Tall Ships in Victoria, boosting the charter industry, connecting disparate special interest groups, engaging public interest and providing a catalyst for operation and maintenance of heritage seaport sites.
• Tall Ships provide a link between maritime heritage and active participation with benefits for education, cultural integration and community involvement.
• And, at its simplest, the Tall Ships Festival can provide a welcome spectacle and days of entertainment and involvement for many, many thousands of Victorians, interstate and overseas visitors.

Keep in touch with Festival planning