DERRY JOURNAL Editorial: New era for Derry's Foyle Maritime Festival

​Both Derry City and Strabane District Council and Clipper Ventures have been coy on the reasons for the partnership not being renewed but it is clear the price wasn’t right for both parties.

After an eye-watering rates and budget process last year, which, combined with inflationary pressures, has resulted in cuts and efficiency savings across the board, the appetite wasn’t there to spend big in order to see the Clippers sail up the Foyle for the sixth time.

DC&SDC may not be able to afford the Clipper race at this moment in time but there are plenty of other boats in the ocean and it is encouraging that the Council has signalled its intention of building on the Maritime Festival’s success with ‘a new narrative that retains the event’s international profile and builds on the positive impact it has had on the local economy’.

The monies that would have been set aside to pay for the Clippers can now be programmed elsewhere within the Foyle Maritime Festival, which is no longer bound by the timetable of the round the world race, which has clashed with some of the other major events of Derry’s summer schedule in the past such as the Foyle Cup, for example.

Those planning the Foyle Maritime Festival can now be more flexible in their approach. What about a Derry City Regatta in August?

Derry Council in talks with Clipper for Maritime Festival 2024 amid funding constraints