Tall, taller, tallest

It was a good thing we squatted tenaciously on our expensive, service-free mooring: as the hour approached for the big parade, the Sail-out, more and more boats, large and small, started arriving, looking for places to tie up and see the show. Ours would undoubtedly have gone in a flash if we had risked vacating it. The day started with the arrival of an enormous Japanese bulk carrier – 60,000 tons and more than 200 metres long. It set the tone for the day.

Fortunately it was sunny, though breezy. It wouldn’t have been too much fun navigating in a crowd with the wind, and we were pleased not to have tried it. Saskia tends to wander in such conditions. We made a friend of a chatty Dutchman, Jos, who brought along some beer to pass the time on our grandstand dock. There were a few threats of large boats anchoring in front of us and blocking the view, but they faded away, dragging their anchors.

Lots of people out on the canal were partying, though quite why in Hawaiian mode was not clear:

The parade finally got under way, and there were a host of enormously impressive ships from many countries. The best thing would seem to be to give you a flavour of the fleet, starting with the undoubted star of the show, ARC Gloria from Colombia:

There were girls as well as boys up there in the rigging!

We had imposing ships from Russia (Kruzenshtern):

Severe and stern ones from Germany (Alexander von Humboldt II):

Intriguing ones from France (Belem):

And the Etoile du Roy:

A couple from Norway and this imposing entry from Sweden – Gothenborg – accompanied down the canal by the strains of ABBA from a party barge:

The Portuguese got in on the act with Sagres:

With the crew in action:

The Australians were there too, and the Indians, but I can’t find the photos. But for us, the Polish stole the show at the end with the Dar Mlodzieczy – which apparently means Gift of Youth. She was spectacular:

The only one missing was the host - Stadt Amsterdam - who finally appeared after everyone had gone home, and we were having our supper, with the camera memory card stuck in the laptop to produce this blog - so no pic!

Now we have fifty knots of wind forecast for tomorrow, but we have three days to get down to our final resting place. Watch this space.