The Festival
Wooden hulls, spars, topsails and canvas are framed against the majestic beauty of Mounts Bay, transporting visitors back in time.
With this backdrop, our aim is to help preserve the identity of Mousehole as a working fishing village and to celebrate its maritime history. The Pezzack family and local Mousehole community back in 1996, set up the first Sea Salts and Sail festival. It has been repeated every two years since and hopes to continue recreating the sights, sounds and smells of a bygone era, when Tom Bawcock and his famous Mousehole Cat would have fished these waters.
In a nutshell, Sea Salts provides an abundant feast for the senses for all the family. There’s no entry fee which makes it all-inclusive, however, we rely on visitors buying a programme and lots of local food and drink. This revenue generates the much needed funds to help put the event on.
From the Friday afternoon, scores of historic and classic vessels start to appear on the horizon and then gradually assemble in and around the picturesque harbour, often rafted several deep. Home ports include places in Mounts Bay, Falmouth, St. Ives, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, Brittany and beyond. Many of the boats represent the last in a handful of authentic examples of their kind. The dedicated crews brave ‘the gaps’, skilfully guiding their vessels through the narrow opening of the 500 year old granite harbour entrance. Some, seen as the elite of classic sailing, manage this without engines, just as Mousehole’s forefathers would have done on a daily basis, hundreds of years ago.
Around the harbour
Local bands provide live music throughout the festival and a well-stocked food and beverage tent will oil the dry inner timbers.
This is very much a family festival, so there’s plenty of entertainment for the kids. There’s poetry, storytelling, wood and stone-carving. The young mariners can also make traditional craft models and then race them in the harbour water – an event that causes much fun, noise and laughter. What might also be of great interest to the kids, is the Photographic Display. This captures village life from the 1800s to present day.
As well as the food and drink tents, there will be a dozen or so marquees selling locally crafted goods. Visitors can also enjoy seashore foraging, boat trips and cooking demonstrations or simply take a guided stroll through this beautiful historic village. The old faded black and white postcards showing scenes of the harbour filled with be-canvassed ships are brought to life on this very special weekend.
This fun-filled long weekend relies on the magic of maritime history recreated, the skill of the crews and a great festival atmosphere. So pop it in your diary and be sure not to miss it…or you’ll have to wait another two years for the next one.
Zone South West