The woman steering the ships to Liverpool

Jun 29 2008 by Peter Elson, Liverpool Daily Post

The woman steering the ships to Liverpool

Judith Feather tells Peter Elson about the past nine years of hard work

YOU might think it was a given that Liverpool only had to ask to host the start of the Tall Ships' Race in its European Capital of Culture year.

In fact, Judith Feather, Liverpool Culture Company head of events and chief organiser of the Tall Ships’ visit, started the bid in 1999 with her team.

Originally, the bid aimed to host the race in 2007 for Liverpool's 700th anniversary, but the event was not in Europe that year, so a revised bid was resubmitted for 2008.

Liverpool Culture Company's major partners for the bid were Mersey Docks & Harbour Company (now Peel Ports), the Royal Navy and United Utilities.

“This is the first time that Liverpool has hosted the Tall Ships' Race start, so it's hard to compare with previous events in 1984 and 1992,” says Judith.

“Liverpool is not that well-placed geographically, so we had to be persuasive and plan our proposal in great detail.

“It's a complex event to put together and we had to adjust to the fact that the fleet can't now be split between Liverpool and Wirral as before.

“People also forget that the Tall Ships' Race is in reality a youth development activity that is done via the medium of sailing ships.

“The spectacle of the tall ships, which obviously is highly important to ensure publicity and interest, is a welcome but secondary aspect.”

In all 1,367 sail trainees will arrive with the fleet and an equal number will depart on July 21.

“I'm very pleased that we've got so many of the biggest ships in the world currently available,” says Judith, who is well-known from many years of organising the River Festival.

“The turn-out is excellent, although it's not the biggest in terms of numbers, we have 27 entrants that have not been to Liverpool before.

“Some of the ships we tried very hard to get, such as the famous US schooner clipper Pride of Baltimore, but failed.

“There are no payments for participating in the Tall Ships' Races (unlike the River Festival) and these vessels are hostages to fortune and must go where they can make money.”

We had to be persuasive and plan our proposal in great detail