The tall ships took over Front Street yesterday morning as they made their way from St George’s to the City of Hamilton in preparation for Bermuda’s second festival in their honour.

A total of 18 ships are now lined up along the harbour with crews hailing from all around the world taking part in the Rendez-Vous 2017 Tall Ships Regatta.

The atmosphere was buzzing in the capital as crews disembarked, some dressed in full sailors’ uniforms, to explore the island further.

The crew from the Dutch ship Wylde Swan proved that their skills stretched beyond pulling the ropes to strumming the strings as they formed a music band while sailing to Bermuda.

The crew gave The Royal Gazette an impromptu rendition of La Bamba that ended up attracting a group of passers-by.

Captain Fosse Fortuin said he’d always wanted to learn an instrument so when a music teacher Martin Perooig joined his crew it was the perfect excuse to go for it. Mr Fortuin said: “It was an impulsive thing. Martin was here and he is a really good musician. For years I wanted to be able to play something and it never worked out so I thought this would be a good opportunity. So I bought a guitar, a piano — I came out of the shop with an entire band.” Band leader Mr Perooig said: “We have guitar, saxophone, ukuleles and anything you can make lots of noise with. We did covers but we changed the lyrics to things about sailing.”

Halee Grimes is second mate on the Pride of Baltimore II, which arrived in Bermuda last Thursday following a sail from Charleston, Carolina. She said: “It was awesome. We did ten knots the whole way. We were trying to get ahead of a storm front that was coming through and thankfully got just far enough ahead of it that we had some decent wind. We did break a few things, but nothing too significant.

“We had a Bermudian on board so since we have been here he has been taking us out in his car and bringing us some nice produce.

“This is my first time here. I really liked St George’s – there are some nice beaches. The people are really nice and super helpful.”

Ms Grimes explained a little history of the Pride saying: “The original was built in the 1970s to bring some glory to Baltimore. She sank in a storm in ‘86 and then the city wanted another ship and this was built in 1988. Our mission is to be a goodwill ambassador from the State of Maryland and the City of Baltimore. The ship has been over 40 countries all over the world. We talk about its maritime history, sailing and we shoot off canons every now and again.”

The Oosterschelde is the largest restored Dutch freight ship and was built in 1917 for cargo sailing. Her captain Maarten De Jong explained: “The ship was later sold to the Danish and Swedish. One by one they took the masts off but then it was too small to compete with the other ships and so they put it in a corner of a harbour.

“A Dutchman came along and he saw it was an old schooner from Holland. He started restoring it and now everything is how it originally was. We tried to create something in that era. We sail around the world with 24 guests and we also do corporate events.

“Society gave us a lot of money to help us restore it so every year we try to do something back for society — we sail with troubled children, terminally diseased people, handicapped people … Last year we were here out of Texas on our way home, and this was a logical stop. I like the colours of the houses and all the white roofs.”

Bermudian David Andrade said his time on Oosterschelde was his first trans-Atlantic voyage.

“I’ve never really sailed normally,” said Mr Andrade.

“I just thought to myself that, as a born and bred Bermudian, it would be kind of cool to do a trans-Atlantic voyage on a sailboat.”

Stormy weather hit the Oosterschelde shortly after leaving her port in Charleston, shortening her weeklong voyage to four days. As helpful as it was, according to Mr Andrade, the crew dealt with stuffy nights and “green faces” in return.

“I don’t suffer from seasickness, thankfully, but there were others who were definitely not liking the experience the first couple of days.”

Shift-work was also constant and required from guests and crew, making it likely for members to work in darkness at night. Other boats were not easy to come by, making awareness of his surroundings key to staying safe during these shifts. Despite these challenges, Mr Andrade found the experience thrilling and recommended people of all ages tried sailing at least once.

“We had a guy about 73 years old, and he was probably doing more work than I was.”

After leaving Bermuda for Boston on Monday, the ships will sail for Halifax and then LeHavre, in France, where the race is set to finish on September 3. Trainees over the age of 16 can still sign up for other legs of the voyage by e-mailing trainee@tallships.bm

• For more information, visit www.tallshipsbermuda.com