Tall ships of Rouen
Aug 25, 2010 20:43:50 GMT
Post by Deleted on Aug 25, 2010 20:43:50 GMT
Every 4 or 5 years, Rouen has a tall ship event called the Armada de Rouen. The next one will be in 2013. It lasts 10 days and it is pretty spectacular.
There are not many tall ships in the world, so it takes quite a bit of organization to bring them together at the same time. Most Americans probably remember the tall ship event in the port of New York for the Bicentennial in 1976, even if they only saw photos of it.
Anyway, I went to Rouen to see the Armada once, and it was quite impressive, even though it was not a day when the ships were sailing (some say that this is even better because you can visit them and climb aboard).
Rouen is not all that close to the Atlantic Ocean, and bringing the ships in is not all that easy -- there are 3 bridges to go under, the Pont de Normandie, the Pont de Tancarville and the Pont de Brotonne. While the Pont de Normandie is high enough for all of the ships, I think, the others require the masts to be tipped to go under.
In any case, the ships are motivated and they arrive in Rouen sooner or later. Just about all of them are manned (and womanned?) by naval cadets of the various countries -- France, England, Italy, Brazil, Colombia, Norway, Mexiso, etc. I don't know if they learn much that is pertinent to 21st century navigation, but I'm sure that they have a great time.
I happened to be there on the 14th of July that year, and the Patrouille de France did a flyover, just as they had done on the Champs Elysées during the military parade earlier in the day.
It was remarkable how perfectly maintained these ships are, even though most of them are more than 100 years old.
Finally, the mastheads are absolute works of art. I think I will try to be there in 2013 to see it again.
There are not many tall ships in the world, so it takes quite a bit of organization to bring them together at the same time. Most Americans probably remember the tall ship event in the port of New York for the Bicentennial in 1976, even if they only saw photos of it.
Anyway, I went to Rouen to see the Armada once, and it was quite impressive, even though it was not a day when the ships were sailing (some say that this is even better because you can visit them and climb aboard).
Rouen is not all that close to the Atlantic Ocean, and bringing the ships in is not all that easy -- there are 3 bridges to go under, the Pont de Normandie, the Pont de Tancarville and the Pont de Brotonne. While the Pont de Normandie is high enough for all of the ships, I think, the others require the masts to be tipped to go under.
In any case, the ships are motivated and they arrive in Rouen sooner or later. Just about all of them are manned (and womanned?) by naval cadets of the various countries -- France, England, Italy, Brazil, Colombia, Norway, Mexiso, etc. I don't know if they learn much that is pertinent to 21st century navigation, but I'm sure that they have a great time.
I happened to be there on the 14th of July that year, and the Patrouille de France did a flyover, just as they had done on the Champs Elysées during the military parade earlier in the day.
It was remarkable how perfectly maintained these ships are, even though most of them are more than 100 years old.
Finally, the mastheads are absolute works of art. I think I will try to be there in 2013 to see it again.