With the Tall Ships gathering in Liverpool, Peter Elson has just the supplement to guide you through this momentous event

THIS weekend sees the most spectacular gathering of sailing ships on the Mersey since 1992.

Already the forest of masts is sprouting, as marquees and other facilities appear along the waterfront.

For an amazing third time, the Tall Ships’ Races are back in Liverpool with a spectacular gathering of 60 ships, including some of the world’s greatest sailing vessels.

The official Tall Ships fleet should all be moored in Liverpool Docks by Friday, with many of them open to the public on Saturday and Sunday.

On Monday, the big spectacle takes place as the Tall Ships leave dock for the Parade of Sail, up and down the Mersey, ready for departure and the first leg of the race to Maloy, in Norway.

For what seems like 40 days lashed to the foremast, I have been researching and writing the Daily Post & Echo’s Tall Ships – The Glory of the Seas supplement to mark this momentous event.

What I have realised is how lucky we have been to host this splendid event three times – in 1984, 1992 and now 2008. This has been due to the initial hard work and vision of a handful of people who believed in bringing it here.

Even this latest event was by no means simply handed to the city because it happened to be European Capital of Culture. The first overtures were made nine years ago to make this weekend a reality.

But the result will be worth it, and this is proof of what people in the city can do. The authorities must do everything in their power to ensure that the right conditions are maintained so the Mersey can consolidate itself as a world-renowned maritime events venue.

It was Nigel Green, former press officer at the now defunct Merseyside County Council, who had a revelation one day as he looked out of its Metropolitan Tower headquarters, in Liverpool.

“I looked out across the river and it suddenly struck me what a blindingly obvious asset was staring at me in the face,” recalls Nigel, 78, who lives in Oxton, Birkenhead.

“While the river and docks no longer drove the city’s commerce, they could instead be harnessed for the new era of leisure use.

“I realised this was a unique resource that no other city can boast. We’d be crazy not to use it to develop tourism.”

Initially, Nigel gathered a plethora of groups with related maritime and sailing interests who had no contact with each other to form an official river festival, which was launched in 1981.

Buoyed by this success, he approached the Sail Training Association to consider Liverpool as a future venue for the Tall Ships’ Races.

“They were entirely unaware of the Mersey’s facilities, but once they saw what we’d got they were blown away,” he says.

Nigel chaired the 1992 Tall Ships’ Races committee and, with the Queen at Balmoral, his master-stroke was to invite King Juan Carlos I and Queen Sofia of Spain as the VIP guests.