A Legenderry Day

I went back to Derry today for another round of maritime revelry, taking the bus this time instead of the train. Here are the 12 clipper ships I mentioned last week. I talked to a crew member from one boat and he said crew pay 5,000 pounds per leg of the race, or 45,000 pounds to do the entire trip (more than a pound per mile for the 40,000 nautical miles!)

The festivities are all along Queen’s Quay, which didn’t exist in the 1970s when I lived here. Back then, the quay was a commercial port and it would have been lined with coal barges and other commercial vessels. It was invisible to the people who lived in Derry. Now it has a promenade that goes on for maybe two miles. Apartment blocks, restaurants, sculpture gardens. It reminded me of walking on the boardwalk in Atlantic City.

This sculpture honours the hundreds of thousands of people who emigrated from the port of Derry--which served those leaving from the northern half of the island. Behind the sculpture there’s a really good band playing and festival rides and concessions.

So to me the irony is the sculpture of wretched people leaving their homeland set against a city that has been so transformed it attracts millions of visitors.

My neighbours, Michael and Faye Doherty, have a son named James who plays trombone in Bookabrassband. Here they are doing their thing, James second from right.

What festival is complete without a parade of weird painted people to frighten the children?


Here’s the Seattle-sponsored boat. I bet the crew have good coffee.

As I said in my last Derry post, the boat sponsors solicit investment and trade in each port. The crew member told me that in addition to having networking events in each port, the boats take potential clients out for a sail.

There was a proper old clipper ship called The Phoenix. Strangely painted people re-enacted a legend of a medieval Irish queen Sunniva, who fled with her people from an invading king. At this point, I’m on a floating dock with my friend Julie’s family. Her son has a motor boat, which gave us an excuse to hang out on the dock and watch the fireworks. Most of the boats moored at this dock were very expensive and there were a lot of very dressed up women partying on these boats with very snappily attired men.

The first round of fireworks were lit on the parade of clipper ships.

Round two was a cascade of fireworks from the Peace Bridge in the distance.

And round three looked like this.

What a fantastic day. Legenderry.
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