President pays emotional tribute to sailors

"Here you've come today to lift our hearts in a week when those hearts have been very low, very broken. You've come in from the sea to lift us . . . and can I say thank you for that."

Some listened to her in shorts and T-shirts, some stood to attention in military uniform. In a warm and informal ceremony in Dublin Castle's courtyard yesterday, the President, Mrs McAleese, paid an emotional tribute to participants in the 1998 Cutty Sark Tall Ships Race.

Just a little under 22 hours earlier, a ship's horn had sounded across the Liffey to mark a minute's silence for the Omagh bomb victims. The horn was that of the Russian-owned Sedov, the largest in the fleet. On many of the vessels, including the Colombian naval barque, Gloria, crew took to the yardarm and stood to attention. When the second horn sounded, there was spontaneous applause as other ships joined in.

It was "totally poignant" and "very moving", Brig Robin Duchesne, chairman of the International Sail Training Association (ISTA), the organiser of the Tall Ships race, said at yesterday's prize-giving ceremony in the Castle. "With the agony of Omagh this week, it is appropriate that we are here because we are peacemakers and trail-blazers." Before the Cold War ended the race had Polish, Russian and Baltic competitors within its fleet, he said.

One of the main "peace-makers", if not a trail-blazer, in this year's event was the Mexican naval training ship, Cuauhtemoc, which took the overall Cutty Sark trophy for the ship voted as contributing most to international understanding and friendship. Although it was among the last to arrive, due to diplomatic duties which kept it in Lisbon, the ship made up for lost time. The Mexican naval cadets sang their way up the Liffey as two Dublin Port tugs towed the craft to its berth at Sir John Rogerson's Quay.

Also award-winners at yesterday's ceremony were the Cork yacht, Moonduster, owned by 78-year-old Denis Doyle, and the Irish sail trainer, Asgard II. Moonduster, which previously won a Tall Ships race leg in 1991, took first in its class and was overall winner of this year's second race on corrected time.

Asgard II came first in its class. The overall winner of the combined races was the British-owned ketch, Duet, which was built in 1912 and is owned by the Cirdan Sailing Trust.

There was an Irish contribution to awards collected by the Russian-owned Mir. Built in Poland and owned by the State Maritime Academy in St Petersburg, the ship now runs on a shoestring. Six of its paying crew on the final race leg from Vigo to Dublin were Irish, including Harry O'Rahilly (24) from Dublin, who is a graduate in Russian and Greek.

Life was "very eastern European" on board, he said, and he found having Russian a great advantage. The merchant fleet students on the ship earn $1 a day, while able seamen are paid $8 a day. As a result, a contribution to food supplies by Dunnes Stores on the ship's arrival in Dublin was very welcome. Corporate sponsorship was provided by Dublin Port, and Harry O'Rahilly bought some of the crew pints. "They won't get a chance to make the most of Dublin, though, because most of them are so broke," he noted.

Yesterday, as thousands of spectators took to the quays, braving heavy rain showers, the chairman of the host committee, Mr Bruce Lyster, paid a special tribute to an absent friend, the former Taoiseach, Mr Charles Haughey. He said Mr Haughey, who resigned from the steering committee recently, had laid the foundation for this event in Dublin.

Tall Ships Dublin also paid tribute to the extensive community effort, involving volunteers from communities on both sides of the river, members of the Irish Marine Emergency Service and Slua Muiri, the Defence Forces, and many members of sailing clubs who worked as liaison officers and provided hospitality to visiting crew.

The fleet remains in Dublin until tomorrow when the Minister for Defence, Mr Smith, will officiate on the naval patrol ship, LE Aisling, at the parade of sail before departure. Today there will be a fireworks display at 10 p.m. at the East Link Bridge, a crews' watersports day from 10 a.m. at the Ringsend Basin, and an air/sea rescue display by the Defence Forces, also in the Ringsend basin and visible from Britain Quay and Sir John Rogerson's Quay, at 3 p.m.

Tomorrow the parade of sail can be seen, weather permitting, from Sandymount, Dun Laogh aire, Killiney, Blackrock, Poolbeg, Dollymount, Clontarf, Howth Head and Sutton, starting at 1 p.m.