We headed across the bridge towards the North quay to visit the class A ships like DUNBRODY, CHRISTIAN RADICH, BELEM, DEWARUCI, ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLT, CAPITAN MIRANDA, EENDRACHT, EUROPA, TARANGINI, MIR, SEDOV and the US Coastguard’s EAGLE, she was the only vessel to have security checks before you were able to go aboard. The organisers were delighted that the Indonesian DEWARUCI was able to take part and she was ‘adopted by the people of Waterford, visitors going onboard were greeted by a very friendly crew. We returned across the bridge to see the rest of the fleet including JEANIE JOHNSTON, ASGARD II, ARTEMIS, BELLE POULE, EYE OF THE WIND, JEAN DE LA LUAN and GREATER MANCHESTER CHALLENGE.  Civil defence units, the Irish Navy, the RNLI and Gardai vessels patrolled the river around the ships providing security and rescue in case somebody fell into the water. Gardai or navy boats escorted spectator craft past the ships in flotilla.  

We watched the parade of sail along with thousands of other spectators from Hook head, 3 Irish sailing vessels ASGARD II, DUNBRODY and JEANIE JOHNSTON lead the tall ships down the River Suir, a historic sight that will be remembered for years. At Dunmore East each ship received a cannon salute from the Irish Army as they passed a reviewing platform. Again civil defence and RNLI lifeboats provided safety cover along with the Waterford based Coastguard helicopter. After the review some ships headed out to sea, ASGARD ll approached Hook head and fired a small cannon as a salute to the spectators along the cliffs who responded in spontaneous applause, it was a nice touch by the crew of ASGARD II. The Irish navel ship AOIFE was guard vessel for the race to France, she would provide radio contact between vessels and respond to any call if required. The race was suppose to start at 1400hrs but due to good weather it was the next day before ships started the race to Cherbourg.