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Spirit of the Sea Maritime Festival 09 Looks Set for
Success
01 July 2009
The second Spirit of the Sea Maritime Festival in Dorset takes
place this year between 4th - 12th July and promises to showcase an
even bigger range of maritime-related events . This year organisers
want to get people in, on or under the water with a range of
watersports taster sessions including, sailing, diving,
windsurfing, kitesurfing, fishing, snorkelling and kayaking.
The festival will feature a huge range of cultural activities
including the spectacular 'Moving Tides Children's Procession' and
dance performances on the beach and at Portland Bill. Also new for
this year will be a 'Hardy Tour of Portland' organised by the Hardy
Society, identifying many of the locations found in his books and
bringing to life much loved passages of literature.
This year's festival stretches right across Dorset. In
particular, the picturesque village of Abbotsbury has embraced the
event and is holding various activities starting with a literary
competition to write a sea shanty and maritime short stories for
children and adults to be judged by Julian Fellows. There will also
be a Sea Art and Fossil Sculptures exhibition, a Sea and Coastal
photographic exhibition, the SeaAbbotsbury 'Spirit of the Sea'
Exhibition and guided walks.
The Spirit of the Sea Maritime Festival's signature events
includes the Dorset Seafood Festival, MarineEx Trade Show, Henri
Lloyd Weymouth Regatta, International Maritime Modelling Festival
and Beach Live. New activities taking place this year will range
from a Tudor Picnic at Sandsfoot Gardens, Art in the Park on
Portland and Island Voices Community Choir to gig racing, beach
games and sports. In addition to all this, more events are being
registered almost every day.
SS Shieldhall will be in for all nine days where guided tours
will be available and the ship can be hired for corporate events.
The 'Shieldhall' is a heritage ship included in the National
Historic Ships Core Collection and is recognised as the largest
working steamship of her type in Britain and probably Europe.
Spirit of the Sea Maritime Festival is positioned as a 2012
legacy project. This means the whole region will benefit from it up
to and beyond the Olympic sailing events at the Weymouth &
Portland National Sailing Academy. On Saturday 11 July - during the
festival - the sailing academy is holding an open day where
visitors may bump into one of the Olympians often found practicing
on the water.
This year's festival has once again been supported by National
Boat Shows, who run Southampton Boat Show and London Boat Show and
help provide marketing support. In return, Spirit of the Sea
provides a great platform to promote the two most important shows
in the sailing calendar.
If you are planning to visit the festival it is advisable to
book early as many accommodation providers found themselves fully
booked last year. For up-to-the-minute availability phone the
Tourist Information Centre on 01305 785747.
To keep up with information about Spirit of the Sea visit
www.spiritofthesea.org.uk
or follow the event on Twitter - spiritofthesea
Ends
For more information contact Event Manager Roy Griffiths 01305
772100
Third Party Issuer
Spirit of the Sea