Our Boats
Our festival wouldn’t be the same without the spectacular boats who visit. We invite scores of historic and classic vessels to fill the harbour, re-creating the sights, smells and flavour of what was once an important, vibrant fishing port. Traditional wooden vessels, (from Brittany to Falmouth) are rigged with spars and tan sails and line the harbour wall. They then set out for an impressive parade of sail over the three days, a sight that stirs the heart of even the most hardened land lubber.
Boat Owners – we encourage you to please send us your details via the ‘Book your boat’ link on the homepage. We will do our very best to include your boat details on the website or in the festival catalogue.
Please note: the finer details of many of these vessels can be found through their skippers at the festival. As ever, the number of vessels attending is governed by the weather and we apologise in advance for any descriptive mistakes.
Gwengolo
Gwengolo isn’t a traditional classic, however, this 18ft vessel class was intended for ‘low cost wood’ 1960/70s amateur French construction (a JJ Herbulot and... Read more
Harrier
Harrier is a 26ft Fairey Marine yacht design – build using a hot moulding technique previously developed for wooden aircraft in the 1940’s. She... Read more
Hannah
Hannah is a 16ft Beer Lugger built by Mears in Axmouth, in 2016. Owned by Giles Frampton and Hannah Lovegrove. Read more
Holly Mae
Holly Mae is a 35ft gaff cutter, traditionally built by Joff Rorke of larch planking on oak frames. The design is inspired by the West Country work... Read more
Happy Return
Happy Return is an original 40ft Cornish Lugger built at Kitto’s Yard, Porthleven in 1904. She was the oldest registered fishing boat when the owner decided... Read more
Ibis
Ibis is an East Coast Oyster Smack of timber carvel construction with pitch pine hull and an inboard diesel engine by Kubota. She was... Read more