Don’t miss out on any of the on-the-water action at the English Braids Falmouth Classics. Our helpful guide will let you pick the perfect spot to enjoy every moment of the three-day event.

Castle Drive & Falmouth Docks

Best For: Watching the boats sailing in Falmouth Harbour and the Carrick Roads

Pendennis Rise, also known as Castle Drive, is a road that climbs above Falmouth Docks and is a prime site from which to watch the sailing unfold. Within walking distance of the town centre and Falmouth Docks railway station, this location offers views of Falmouth Harbour and the Carrick Roads where sailing action will be taking place.

Facilities: With parking very limited, make sure you get your spot early or make use of the park and ride facilities. The nearest toilets are at Events Square. Refreshments are available from the shop by Falmouth Docks or Events Square.

Pendennis Point

Best For: Watching the Sunday Parade of Sail and Power, and the Carrick Roads and Falmouth Bay racing

Among the best spots in Falmouth to catch the sailing action is Pendennis Point. Located approximately 15 minutes from the town centre, Pendennis Point comes equipped with views right across the Carrick Roads and Falmouth Bay, allowing for excellent viewing of the racing during the regatta. It is the ideal spot to watch the Classic Parade of Sail & Power on Sunday 18th June, where the shanty group Short Drag Roger will be performing between 10.30am to 11.30am.

Facilities: Although parking is free to the public, it is very limited and only those who arrive early can ensure a spot. The best way to get there could be to park and ride from Ponsharden and then either make use of the bus service or make your way there by foot. Facilities are limited with the closest toilets and refreshments a 10-minute walk away. Also, it could be wise to wrap up warm as with the best sailing comes strong winds. Be prepared!

St Mawes Castle

Best For: Watching the Sunday Parade of Sail and Power and the Carrick Roads racing

For those based on the Roseland side of the peninsular, St Mawes Castle makes for a perfect viewing spot. With sweeping lawns down to the headland, it also makes for a nice picnic spot on sunny days.

Facilities: The upper car park contains 15 spaces and two disabled spaces. When more parking is required, visitors can use the castle’s lower car park, which has ample space available. A set of concrete steps and a steep road separate the car parks with the site’s entrance. The parking is charged at £3 per car, per day, however visitors will receive a refund upon entry to the site. The nearest off-site car park is located in St Mawes village. Charges apply. You are welcome to bring a picnic to eat in the grounds. There are plenty of grassed areas and a number of bench seats, although no tables.

Footpath Viewing Points

Trefusis Point (west side of Fal) – accessed by the waterside footpath from Flushing to Mylor. Parking either at Mylor or Flushing. Good views when racing is in the Fal and for the mustering and return from the Sunday morning parade.

Place to St Anthony’s Head – SW Coast Footpath. Foot ferry from St Mawes to Place – good views when racing is in the entrance.

St Mawes Castle to St Just in Roseland footpath – parking at St Mawes Castle or St Just in Roseland good views of the Fal when racing is in the river.

Classic Boat Spotters Guide

Organisers are expecting are expecting well over 150 classic boats to take part in the English Braids Falmouth Classics 2019. There is an increase in the Royal Navy presence this year, with three vessels taking part in various capacities to help make this a great event. And with an increase in the number of pre 1940s vessels, many of which are on the National Register of Historic Ships, visitors are in for a bigger show of historic beauty and maritime craft than ever before.

Here are just some of the classic boats to look out for:

Alberta

CK318 built in 1885 in Brightlingsea, she has sailed west from the Blackwater to participate in the event.

Barnabus SS634

The only survivor from St Ives of the thousand-strong fleet of fishing boats registered at Cornish ports at the end of the 19th century. Built in 1881, Barnabus would begin her year in March, fishing for mackerel, then switch to herring in mid-summer. In 2005 the Heritage Lottery Fund supported her restoration, in her 123rd year. Today she is sailed, maintained and loved by members of the Cornish Maritime Trust.

Binker

Falmouth Packet:

Built in 1934 in New York to a design by Starling Burgess. She was sailed to the UK in the 1970’s and was sold in a very sorry condition. After 20 years of lying in a boatyard, she was discovered and bought as a project by her current owners Penny and Jamie Robinson. They completed a major rebuild over the next few years and she was re-launched in 2014.

Bonita

Falmouth Packet:

Built in 1888, this gaff yawl was built as a racing yacht by Crossfields of Arnside. Since 1937, she has been owned by the Beckett family and has never been rebuilt. She is based on the Thames. The oldest racing yacht participating in the event, and this year nominated as a centenarian in the Classic Boat Awards 2019.

Britannia

Falmouth Packet:

Built by Henry Roberts of Mevagissey, she was registered as FY 279 and was a pilchard driver. Sold to Porthleven, her registration changed to PZ 8. Sold out of fishing she ended up in Kent but was rescued and returned to Cornwall.

Galene

Falmouth Packet:

Built by Luke Brothers in 1937 on the Hamble she has a Bermudan rig. She is a Teal one design and was rebuilt at Gweek and relaunched in 2010.

Guiding Star

Falmouth Packet:

A Looe lugger built in 1905 used to net pilchards, mackerel and herring using a drift net a mile long. She was crewed by 5 or 6 men. Converted into a yacht in 1937.

Longbow 2

Falmouth Packet:

Longbow 2 is a 40 ft Robert Clark teak hulled bermudan sloop built in 1967 by the Crosshaven Boatyard, Ireland to compete in the Admirals Cup in RORC Class 2. Robert Clark was briefed to design a boat that would race well for two years and then cruise. In 1968 she was the Class 2 Champion and performed well also in 1969 with several firsts. The Macaulay family then went cruising and she remained in their ownership for the next 25years. A later owner used he for sail training for ten years . A Mylor Bridge resident has contacted the Classics team to tell us that he sailed with the original owner David Macaulay on her from 1970 to 1976 including a trip out to Istanbul and back and skippered her from Malta to Falmouth in 1975. The Mylor Bridge resident will be invited to visit the boat whilst it is in Falmouth.

Marguerite

Launched in 1893 and licenced as a pilot cutter in both Barry and Cardiff, she carried pilots to and from vessels until 1911. In private ownership she has cruised widely to Canada, the Caribbean and Scandinavia. In 1992 she was restored in Nova Scotia and later returned to the UK . She one of five pilot cutters entered for the English Braids Falmouth Classics and is the oldest original. Owned by the Brunyee family for 19 years, she is a regular Classic's participant.

Merita

Falmouth Packet:

A canoe stern, round bilge, shoal draught gentleman’s coastal motor yacht. She was designed by a naval lieutenant Pruitt, from St Just, for his personal use, and built in W Frazier & Son’s yard in Mevagissey (which is now the Maritime Museum) in 1936. When the present owner bought her, there was nothing of the interior to preserve and a full bare hull rebuild and refit was planned. As usual with wooden boat projects it took longer and cost more than anticipated! This summer is her first visit to home waters in 80 years.

Our Daddy FY7

Falmouth Packet:

Built in Looe in 1921 by Dick Pearce, Our Daddy was skippered by his son Alfred for the J E Pengelly family. She was used for some 65 years in the pilchard, mackerel and later shark fishing industries. A 45’ lugger (75’ with bowsprit and bumpkin), Our Daddy was the last sailing lugger to work out of Looe, and is now used for charter voyages around the Cornish coast.

Osterling 30

Falmouth Packet:

Now French owned, Osterling is a 30 square metre built in 1937 in Kiel as a training boat for the Luftwaffe. In 1945 she was a Windfall yacht and was owned by the RAF but later transferred to the Royal Navy. Sold into private ownership in 1951 she was in a poor state by 1972 and was rescued and later rebuilt being relaunched in 2000.

Phizz 698

Falmouth Packet:

A regular Classics participant was built as a racer in 1952 and raced regularly in Poole Yacht Club for many years. Built to a design by Fred Parker and Partners.

Piccolino 56

Falmouth Packet:

A keel boat designed by David Boyd in 1965, she is a Piper One Design and this is her first appearance in the Falmouth Classics.

Pilgrim of Brixham BM45

Falmouth Packet:

Built in 1895, she is one of six boats built in that year by Uphams. She was part of a trawling fleet of 300 similar vessels. Sold abroad in 1912 she was later converted to carry freight and in 1943 carried blocks of granite to Travemunde to create a statue of Adolph Hitler but she also smuggled guns to the Norwegian Resistance. Surviving a sinking in 1945 she was eventually returned to sail in 1975 and was registered in Malmo. In 1999 she was found in Sweden and returned to Brixham. A major rebuild took place from 2008-11. She is owned by the Pilgrim Trust.

Sceptre

Falmouth Packet:

Built in 1958 by Alex Robertson to a design by David Boyd for a Royal Yacht Squadron Syndicate, Sceptre was the UKs contender for the America’s Cup. Built to the 12 metre class rule, she is thought to be the only Americas’ Cup contender still afloat. She will be joining the Classics from her home port of Poole.

Stormy Petrel

Falmouth Packet:

Built in 1890 by R and C Perkins, Whitstable, she worked the local oyster beds and went stowboating in the summer. Later in 1928 she became a watch boat for the Whitstable layings whilst owned by the Seasalter and Ham Oyster Company. Now owned by Luke and Joanna Powell following ownership for 56 years by Dick Norris who kept her on the Medway. At 40' overall and 25 tons she still does not have an engine. She is one of three Thames and Essex oyster smacks competing in this year’s Classics.

Yvon Salaun

Falmouth Packet:

This French vintage lifeboat was built at Fecamp, Normandy in 1955, and will be following the Falmouth lifeboats in the Parade of Sail and Power. She will be open to the public during the Haven openings. "Yvon Salaun" served as a lifeboat in Portsall, Brittany until 1998 and was designated a Historic Monument in 2016. The vessel is named after a Free French Navy seaman whose ship was sunk in February 1945.