Seventh Delfsail: event with international allure

The tallships, sailing heritage, performers, maritime markets, street theatre and shanty choirs left Delfzijl again. For four days, Delfzijl celebrated the ‘Festival of the Seven Seas’.

The seventh edition of the maritime fest DelfSail, which took place from 13 to 16 June, was marked by alternating sunshine and lots of rain. However, the weather conditions did not stop the general public from finding a spot in both the harbour and along the Seaport Canal to welcome the mostly renowned tallships from home and abroad.
Piece by piece, the ships formed a sight to behold. During this edition, not just maritime traditions were celebrated. The spotlight was also on the future with the ‘sustainability square’, an initiative showing how we can work together to create a cleaner, more sustainable world. Like previous editions, the maritime fest attracted a record number of visitors, despite a hefty shower over the festivities.

Spin off

On the morning of 13 June, an armada of tall ships, small ships, yachts, classic inland barges, steamships and motorboats, Sailing Heritage and replicas gathered in Eemshaven. In a long Parade (or Sail-In), ships such as among others the three-masted tall ship Dar Mlodziezy, ‘school at sea’ masterskip Wylde Swan, gaff schooner Joanna Saturna, three-masted schooner Pascual Flores, three-masted schooner De Gulden Leeuw, galleon El Galeón, topsail schooners Gladan and Falken, the Nao Victoria, schooner brig Jantje and topsail schooner Willem Barentsz sailed to Delfzijl. The Brazilian three-master Cisco Branco, with her 72-strong crew and intended co-catcher of the festivities, announced four days before arrival that the trip to Delfzijl had to be aborted due to engine room problems. Also major absentees were Russian crowd-pleasers Mir and Kruzenshtern. Since the invasion of Ukraine, they have been banned from the various Sail festivals.
The spin-off from the event was huge. For four days, visitors in Delfzijl’s city centre and harbours could enjoy the numerous vessels, free performances by national and international (top) artists, shanty choirs, dazzling fireworks, nautical markets, the Naval Roadshow, the durability street, atmospheric markets, performances by the Orchestra Royal Marechaussee and fairs.
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Sail out

Besides the many foreign windjammers, DelfSail offered a large fleet of Dutch tallships and traditional sailing ships. Amid great interest, all ships departed on Sunday 16 June for their home port or next destinations and the more than 400 volunteers, as well as the organising DelfSail committee, could look forward to the next edition. Which will take place in five years and can only be bigger in scale.

Read the much fuller article by Henk Zuur in Schuttevaer (dutch)

Photo: Facebook page Delfsail.

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