WITH the last few ships arriv-ing in Norway today, the first leg in the Tall Ships’ Races 2008 is drawing to a close.

After leaving Liverpool 10 days ago, they began crossing the finish line on Tuesday.

The UK’s Jolie Brise, class B vessel looks like the overall winner as the ships continue to dock in Maloy.

The small fishing town has doubled in size with the arriv-al of the fleet and two cruise ships have been brought in to cater for the crew.

Speaking from the Stavros S Niarchos, which had a 52-Liverpudlian crew, Captain Liam Keating said his crew had been a credit to the city.

He added: “Leaving Liverpool I was anxious how 52 new crew would get on, but if they represent what’s going on in Liverpool, then England has nothing to worry about.

“They are one of the best groups I’ve had and the voyage was full of fun and laughter, they’re a credit to the city. It was a journey of firsts for many, first time on a boat, first time up the rigging.

“We left Liverpool in strong winds, and any fool can sail a boat at 20 knots, but when the wind fell away we had to work hard and they proved they were real seamen.

“We were behind Pelican of London and the Lord Nelson, which was 11 miles ahead, but we ended up 240 miles ahead of the Lord Nelson.

“I’m ecstatic that we came 8th in our class and 11th over-all but I had a great crew.”

It included twins Claire and Kate Guest, of Allerton.

Claire, 21 said: “I’ve had such an amazing time. We’ve seen schools of dolphins, a pod of killer whales and hundreds of huge jellyfish. Some of it has been tough, but we helped each other through.”

Kate added: “Nothing com-pares to this experience. We want to come back next year if we can, but we have to look for jobs as we have just graduated from university.”

Behind the Jolie Brise, is the Stina Mari from Norway, also class B with the Class A Christian Radich (Norway), the winner of the last two Tall Ships Races, in third place.

laurasharpe