Hollywood sailing in to Tall Ships Festival 2008
Bounty, replica of Nina joining fleet of big boats coming to Inner Harbour.
It will be Hollywood-on-the-highseas at June’s four-day Tall Ships Festival in the Inner Harbour. The Bounty — nautical star of two blockbusters — is coming, festival president Bob Cross announced yesterday at a Maritime Museum reception.
Victoria is the only major Canadian stop — some ships later visit Port Alberni — in this year’s tall ship race series held every three years on the Pacific coast.
The festival has been designated the premier marine event of B.C.’s 150th anniversary celebrations, cabinet minister and Oak Bay-Gordon Head MLA Ida Chong announced. Chong arrived at the reception bearing gifts for the festival — $50,000 from the provincial government.
The Bounty was built in Lunenberg for the 1962 movie Mutiny on the Bounty, which starred Marlon Brando and Trevor Howard and earned multiple Oscar nominations. The ship also took Johnny Depp aboard for his second Pirates of the Caribbean instalment, Dead Man’s Chest (2006).
The Bounty is the third vessel with a Hollywood past confirmed for the festival June 26-29. The Lady Washington was used in the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie, The Curse of the Black Pearl.
Last month, the festival announced a replica of Christopher Columbus’s favourite ship, Nina, was coming. The caravel redonda was seen in the Gerard Depardieu and Sigourney Weaver movie, 1492 — Conquest of Paradise (1992).
The Bounty is a class A vessel (ships more than 133 feet in length), as is the second ship confirmed yesterday, the Kaisei, which features a multicultural crew.
The Sausalito-based training vessel has been known to fly under the United Nations flag. The previously confirmed U.S. Coast Guard’s 295-foot Eagle is also class A.
This festival has one more class A vessel than the inaugural one here in 2005.
Currently there are 23 ships confirmed for the $1.2-million festival, according to executive director Geoff Corbett.
By festival time, Corbett expects about 28 ships available for visitors to tour. Previous commitments have kept Asian and European tall ships away this festival, he said.
The Long Island-based Bounty became available as it was already scheduled to be in Tahiti in October to commemorate the 220th anniversary of the arrival there of its namesake.
Also announced were two new additions to festival dockside events. The Maritime Mosaic is a collection of ethnic kiosks emphasizing their contributions to B.C. marine history. Also new at Ship Point is History Bites, a tent featuring tapas-style foods inspired by recipes and ingredients from 1830 to 1940 and prepared by local restaurateurs. Back again are both the maritime market with juried crafts and the live entertainment stage.
Festival passes are $25 until April 30, when they jump to $35.
For ticket information call 1-800-663-3883
