Second only to the famous Venice Carnival, the magic of the Viareggio Carnival in Tuscany, attracts more than a million spectators every year. Visitors come from around the world to marvel at the great parades, where giant floats featuring extraordinary sculptures in papier-maché, some of which weigh 40 tons, depict popular celebrities and public figures.
The parades take place in a 2 km circuit around the seaside avenues of Viareggio and includes masked folk musicians and performers. There are five parades, taking place throughout the month of February, during which time there is also a big entertainment programme. One of Italy's favourite sporting events takes place as part of the Viareggio Carnival entertainment programme, a youth football tournament known as the Torneo di Viareggio (Coppa Carnevale).
Here is a wonderful video from roleck0666 which captures the spirit and fun of Carnevale di Viareggio.
This year, the Activity Holidays Guide is delighted to be offering the opportunity to sail the warm waters of the Tuscan coastline on-board your own private luxury yacht. Go to our Sail In Italy page for more information or to make a booking inquiry.
Parades for Viareggio Carnival 2010 take place 31 January, 7,14,16 and 21 February 2010.
It's that time again; the time when wetass speed freaks descend on Weymouth's Portland Harbour for Weymouth Speed Week.
Portland Harbour is to be the sailing venue for the 2012 Olympic games but during speed week, speed sailors take a crack at the World sailing speed record and in particular aim to hit the elusive 50 knot barrier for the first time. All manner of craft enter, including sailboards, kite boards and some exceptionally engineered cutting-edge designs. Competitors come from around the world, although this year, the Luderitz World Cup is being held in Namibia during the period 15 September - 13 October, 2008, which overlaps Weymouth Speed Week 2008, running 4 - 10 October.
Top speed board sailors are now regularly hitting speed in excess of 45 Knots and some like Martin van Meurs have been logged as reaching peak speeds of 50 knots but for the world record, the speed must be averaged over a measured distance, eg. 500m.
The unique geographical location of Portland harbour results in ideal speed sailing conditions of smooth, strong winds and flat water. Spectators are encouraged at the event, which usually includes workshops and demonstrations, and the Weymouth Sailing Centre is open to all during Speed Week.
The PSP Southampton Boat Show begins its 40th year tomorrow, 12 September and runs through to 21 September 2008. Last year more than 127,000 visitors attended this popular boating show, which takes place next door to Lymington, home base for many of Britian's sailing stars. UK sailors have returned from Qingdao, China, with the best Olympic medal haul for over a century and gold medal winners Ben Ainslie, Paul Goodison, Iain Percy, Andrew Simpson, Sarah Ayton, Sarah Webb and Pippa Wilson, will arrive on Mike Golding's yacht Ecover 3, at 10am tomorrow, together with other Skandia Team GBR members, to formally open the show.
They will be joined by boating legends and television personalities from the past 40 years to celebrate the Southampton Boat Show's forty year history.
Another year, and again teams from the north and south hemispheres are both vying to be the first to the 50 knots barrier.
Frenchman Alain Thébault's flying trimaran, l'Hydroptère, holds the record for being the fastest sailing craft over one nautical mile, with an average speed of 41.69 knots, and l'Hydroptère team's next goal is to be first to cross the elusive 50-knots speed barrier.
However, the Australians are determined to beat the French to sailing's holy grail. Mindfull of l'Hydroptère's recent forays in the mediterranean, their entrant Wot Rocket has announced an official attempt during August, to break the 500m world speed sailing record in Botany Bay.
But don't think that the sailboarders will be sitting back and allowing the big boys steal their thunder, one of their number, French sail boarder Antoine Albeau currently has the fastest recorded speed over 500m of 49.09 knots.
Lisa Ratcliff reports in Sail-World on the Australian push to secure the prize.
The Clipper fleet's arrival in Liverpool at the end of their 35,000-mile circumnavigation was part of the city's European Capital of Culture 2008 celebrations and thousands of people lined the banks of the Mersey to give the yachts a spectacular welcome back.
For the non-professional crew onboard the ten 68-foot ocean racing yachts, the return to Liverpool's Albert Dock represented the end of a challenge of a lifetime. Crossing the finish line to claim the title of Clipper 07-08 Round the World Yacht Race champions was, New York. Closely followed in second place by Hull & Humber. Third place went to the Scottish entry, Glasgow, which was the only boat in the ten-strong fleet to be led by a female skipper, Hannah Jenner.
Having visited La Rochelle, Salvador, Durban, Fremantle, Singapore, Qingdao, Hawaii, the west coast of the USA, the Caribbean, New York and Cork, contestants in the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race, which started in Liverpool last September, are just hours away from their return to Liverpool.
The fleet of 10 ocean racing yachts, each backed by a different international city and crewed by non-professional sailors, will have covered 35,000 miles to complete their circumnavigation; the nautical equivilent of climbing Everest.
For the first time, a river yacht route, Dvortsovy Kruiz (Palace Cruise), has been opened, connecting Moscow and St. Petersburg via the Volga-Baltic waterway, The route will be operating on a trial basis through July 12 as part of the Annual Yacht Festival.
St. Petersburg is already a popular cruise destination but foreign cruise boats are currently barred from sailing Russian waters, although plans are underway to change this. Read more about this in the St. Petersburg Times.
A Phoenician Ship Expedition is searching for keen sailors and adventurers to take part in a unique international project called Phoenicia.
The Expedition has begun by building a replica Phoenician/Mediterranean vessel and crew is needed in August 2008, for an attempt to recreate a circumnavigation of Africa, as first accomplished by Phoenician mariners in 600BC. Learn more and download an application form from the Phoenicia website.
69-year-old, Japanese sailor, Ken-ichi Horie, will shortly set out on yet another pioneering voyage, a journey of 4,350 miles from Hawaii to Japan in a wave-powered boat. It will be a world record for the longest distance traveled by a wave-powered boat, which is being described as the greenest nautical propulsion system since the sail.
Two tall ship organisations have announced a search for crew. Clipper Round the World, founded by Robin Knox-Johnston, is searching for Singaporean and Singapore-based ex-pats, applicants have to be over 18 at the time of the race but there is no upper age limit.
The current Clipper fleet sets sail from Keppel Bay Marina, Singapore, on Sunday 27 January, 2008, departing the marina at 10.30am to head out to the start line for a race to Qingdao, China, which is the venue for the sailing events of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.
In the second opportunity, fifty people from all over Cornwall will join tall ships in Falmouth, England, taking part in a race which leaves Falmouth on 13th September, 2008, bound for Ilhavo in Portugal, then on to Funchal in Madeira, in the Funchal 500 Tall Ships Regatta 2008.
The great French sailor, Francis Joyon, has regained the record for sailing single-handed around the world. He crossed the finish line off Brest onboard his 97ft multihull IDEC, in a time of 57 days, 13 hours, 34 minutes and 6 seconds. shattering friend and rival Ellen MacArthur's record by two whole weeks.
The Barcelona World Race is a new two-handed, non-stop round the world yacht race, which will be held every four years. For the first time, this race will see the world's best professional sailors from both solo and fully crewed disciplines coming together to compete against each other in teams of two.
The inaugural race starts on 11 November, 2007 and there are nine IMOCA Open 60 class yachts, ready to go. Promo Video
Four hundred years ago, three settlers' ships made land at a swampy island, which became America's first permanent English settlement, Jamestown. In celebration of the 400th anniversary of their adventure, the neighbouring, larger harbour of Norfolk, has been asked to accommodate a fleet of more than 50 tall ships, military and character vessels, in Sail Virginia 2007. Running from Friday, June 8, to Tuesday, June 12, 2007, the fleet is expected to include a replica of one of the Jamestown settlers' ships, Godspeed, usually berthed at the Jamestown Settlement living history museum. Another of the ships, the Picton Castle, will be fresh from a starring role as a pirate ship in the new reality TV series, Pirate Master, where 16 modern-day pirates are sent on a high seas adventure, living the life of buccaneers, travelling around the Caribbean island of Dominica in search of hidden treasure.
Downtown Norfolk will be infused with the same adventuresome spirit of America's founders, by over 1,000 artists, actors, musicians, historians, Native Americans and sailing crews from around the world. Sail Virginia is being combined with Norfolk's 31st annual Harborfest, a festival with live music, good food and spectacular fireworks, held along the Elizabeth river, admission is free and includes tours of the ships.
110 days to Skandia Cowes Week, 4 - 11 August, 2007. Over 1000 yachts, 8,500 competitors and even more spectators, on and off the water. This is an event that attracts local, national and international sailors, many of whom are amateurs but who also include professional, world and Olympic champions.
There are regular ferries to and from the Isle of Wight, no need to book as a foot passenger, and during Skandia Cowes Week there is a dedicated ferry service from Lymington Town Harbour Masters Jetty.
This year is the 40th Antigua Sailing Week, it began in 1967 with a small group of local yachts and has grown to become one of the world's top regattas.
Today, the event attracts over 1,500 participants to the blue Caribbean waters around Antigua, including many of the worlds leading sailors and more than 200 competing boats. 5,000 spectators will enjoy the spectacle of some of the world’s largest and fastest yachts racing against each other in an annual duel.
Antigua Sailing Week runs from 29 April through to the 4 May, 2007.
UK sailors have returned from Qingdao, China, with the best Olympic medal haul for over a century and gold medal winners Ben Ainslie, Paul Goodison, Iain Percy, Andrew Simpson, Sarah Ayton, Sarah Webb and Pippa Wilson, will arrive on Mike Golding's yacht Ecover 3, at 10am tomorrow, together with other Skandia Team GBR members, to formally open the show.
This is an event that attracts local, national and international sailors, many of whom are amateurs but who also include professional, world and Olympic champions.
