It is not very tall, the rig is not very square, and it isn't what you'd class as a clipper ship. Still, the Vervine Blossom is one of the little heroes in the 1998 Cutty Sark Tall Ships fleet, berthed on both banks of the Liffey for the next four days.
The Manx nobby was given a royal Ringsend welcome when it sailed back into Poolbeg Yacht and Boat Club earlier this week after a 700-mile trip across the unpredictable Bay of Biscay from Vigo in north-west Spain. With six inner-city trainees on board, the vessel is one of the few Irish representatives in the race.
"Yes, we were becalmed, we were slopping around, we had a few problems - the usual sailing things," Poolbeg skipper Clem Kelly said yesterday. "About 70 miles west of the Ouessant, off France, the Royal Navy came to our assistance. The lads charged up our batteries, gave us a kickstart and helped us back on our way."
Built in Peel on the Isle of Man in 1910, the Vervine Blossom spent most of its life as a fishing vessel, working with Portavogie's Frankie McAlinden, Howth's Michael Doran, and latterly out of Arklow and Howth. In 1989, Mick Hunt - of Galway hooker fame - restored it with the help of Johnny Healion and Colin Mulkearns, of Mweenish, Connemara. Just over 80 years after it was built, it returned to Peel for a traditional boats festival, and it has been sailing ever since.
Like many of the vessels up the Liffey this weekend, it has not actually completed all three legs of the race from Falmouth to Lisbon, to Vigo and to Dublin Bay. Take another little hero, the Okeah or Ocean, from St Petersburg, which never saw the race at all. Skippered by an ex-submarine commander, it limped into Dublin with 10 weary crew on board, after two long months at sea. It missed the start at Falmouth, had its sails blown out, but was determined to make it to Dublin - and, to judge by the welcome, won't ever want to leave.
Some vessels had to tow each other, others had diplomatic duties forced upon them. The Mexican-registered Cuauhtemoc was obliged to stay on in Lisbon for Expo '98 and lost its place. With some significant persuasion by the Dublin hosts, it left Portugal and is due to receive a 21-gun salute from the Army at Dun Laoghaire's East Pier early this morning. The last of the fleet will be swept in by the Naval Service patrol ship, LE Aisling, later today.
"Race" may be a misnomer for the event, given that this is no rerun of the famous Great Tea Race of 1866, when the clipper ships Ariel and Taeping tussled over 15,000 miles from China to London's East India Dock and were only a mile apart at the finish. The overall Cutty Sark trophy is awarded not to the fastest ship, but to the vessel which has contributed the most to international understanding, friendship and the other philanthropic ideals of the International Sail Training Association. The decision is taken by vote of captains and crew, and the Asgard II won it in 1991 when the race route included Cork.
Initiated in 1956 by a London lawyer, Bernard Morgan, the gathering of the last of the world's barquentines, barques, brigantines, schooners and replicas of same has become a major international event, involving thousands of sail trainees. The main entry requirement concerns the crew, at least half of which must be between the ages of 16 and 25. For many, it is their first experience of scaling a yard-arm or tying a bowline or changing a jib, never mind adjusting to life at sea.
It has also become a fixed date in the sailing season of many traditional craft which now rely on public and private support to stay afloat.
Working sailing vessels survived well into the second quarter of this century, but were always associated with remote and underdeveloped communities such as those in the Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia, the state of Maine and New England, the Greek and Turkish islands. One of the last fleets of grain-racers was owned by the Finnish shipping entrepreneur, Gustaf Erikson, of the Aland islands. "I will never be a steamship owner," he once said.
Some larger ships will be holding private receptions over the weekend to help pay their way, while most will make their own arrangements for public access, and will be observing a minute's silence for the Omagh bomb victims today. Among the larger vessels will be the Mir and Kruzenshtern from Russia, the Colombian Gloria, Poland's Dar Mlodziezy, Iskra, Pogoria and the German Alexander von Humboldt.
The Argentinian Libertad, crewed by naval cadets, has already made its presence felt in Killala Bay, while the sail trainer for people with disabilities, the Lord Nelson, is among the nonracing fleet. Run by the Jubilee Sailing Trust, whose Irish representative is Mrs Jennifer Guinness, the Lord Nelson has taken many Irish on board in the past. It is designed for full wheelchair access for all duties.
Tall Ships Dublin, which is hosting the Dublin leg, has planned a series of activities over the next four days (see below) in co-operation with local communities. While Ringsend has planned a maritime festival, there are fears that the festival will be "two-tier", given the corporate emphasis in the official programme.
Mr Fiacc O Brolchain, maritime journalist and Tall Ships Race veteran, says it will be a shame if the spirit of the festival is lost sight of by the organisers. "In many host ports, trainees are given bus passes and phone cards and passes. Most of them have little money, and it is the only way they can get around."
Among the highlights (see below) will be a crews' parade through the streets of Dublin at lunchtime on Sunday, led by the Army No 1 Band, and a prizegiving ceremony conducted by the President, Mrs McAleese.
On Tuesday the Minister for Defence, Mr Smith, will officiate at a parade of sail in Dublin Bay from 1 p.m.