Join the crew as festival heads for port

Thousands of visitors will be making tracks to Portsoy this weekend, to enjoy the colourful spectacle of the annual traditional boat festival. And with a programme of events so full the festival has had to be extended for an extra two days, there’s no excuse to not drop anchor awhile, writes Susan Welsh

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ONE of the biggest events in the Homecoming 2009 calendar sails into view today with the launch of the 16th annual Scottish Traditional Boat Festival at Portsoy.

The festival, which has been extended by two days to accommodate a busier than normal programme, has been given the royal seal of approval. The Princess Royal will make a two-hour visit tomorrow morning, arriving around 11am.

As president of the Royal Yachting Association, the Princess Royal has a keen interest in sailing and she will visit the large range of maritime demonstrators at the festival and the Salmon Bothy, with its museum of Portsoy’s history and the salmon fishery and genealogical research facility.

The Living Traditions area is also of interest to the Princess Royal, where craft experts including Hazel Tindall, one of the world’s fastest knitters, and Paul Dodwell, an expert in fishermen’s ganseys, will show their traditional skills.

While the first two days of the festival will be devoted to presentations and demonstrations by national and international experts in each subject, events on Saturday and Sunday will follow the festival's well-established form of non-stop spectacle, with music, good food, and plenty of activities to keep everyone in the family happy.

Picturesque Portsoy is proud of its maritime heritage and this colourful celebration of its seafaring roots will see a superb gathering of traditional boats arriving at both its harbours.

Meanwhile, a symposium of fascinating speakers will talk about nautical traditions ranging from early boat building to sea shanties.

Among them is Nigel Irens, a world-renowned yacht designer who designed Ellen McArthur’s yacht, who will discuss current and future design as part of the speaker’s symposium, while Bjorn Arve and Johanne Tvedten, from Norway, will give children opportunities to discover boat-building skills and demonstrate some of the traditional techniques.

Roger Goodyear, chairman of the Scottish Traditional Boat Festival, said: “The event has been greatly supported by Homecoming 2009 and ties in significantly with the initiative.

“The festival will be bringing people back to Scotland and their maritime roots, as well as allowing those who live here to reconnect with their heritage.

“This is also reflected in the line-up of international speakers.

“Last year was a great success, with about 100 boats and over 14,000 visitors attending, and the Scottish Traditional Boat Festival will be even bigger this year.

“As well as doubling the length of the festival we have expanded its content considerably and hope to attract even more people.”

Roger added: “The aim of this great event is to highlight the rich traditions of the area, which go beyond building superb wooden craft to include such things as gansey knitting, which varied across the ports of the north-east.”

A gansey is a seamless knitted jumper worn by fishermen to protect them from the elements. Each village was thought to have its own distinctive gansey pattern, to help identify a man if he was lost at sea.

Knitting and weaving will play a major part in the festival and guests include Norman Kennedy, who is known across the world for his skills in knitting, weaving and singing.

Music is also central to the festival, as it has strong links with maritime traditions.

Roger said: “The theme this year will be around shanty. Our non-stop programme of music, song and dance will feature traditional musicians and signers from around the world, including shanty expert Bob Walser.

“And we’re delighted to have The Donnie Munro Band headlining the Friday evening showcase concert, a performance which will kick off the weekend proceedings with a bang.”

As well as demonstrations and performances, visitors can attend a food fair at the Wally Green, where they can sample fine fare from a range of local and national Scottish producers. The fair will feature regular cookery demonstrations from TV chef and presenter Nell Nelson and others.

Finally, as this is the year of Homecoming, a visit to the renovated Salmon Bothy, which opened at last year’s festival, is a must.

It will showcase exhibitions, demonstrations and entertainment during the event and, as it is a fully equipped genealogical research facility, it is the ideal starting point for visitors wishing to explore their roots.

The Scottish Traditional Boat Festival at Portsoy starts today and runs until Sunday. For full details call 01261 842951 or visit www.scottishtraditional boatfestival.co.uk