ONE hundred and fifty down ¿ 100 to go.

The organisers behind this summer's much-anticipated Tall Ships Festival have now signed up 150 volunteers for the event, part of Bermuda's 400th birthday celebrations. However, 100 more Bermuda residents are needed to help ensure the event runs smoothly, according to volunteer co-ordinator Mary Frith.

In particular, Ms Frith is looking for locals aged between 18 and 25 to fill the newly-created role of of 'junior liaison officer', assisting crew members as young as 15 who may have trouble finding their feet in Bermuda.

"It's as simple as showing them where to check their email, or where they can do their laundry," Ms Frith explained.

"We'd love to have Bermudian university students volunteer ¿ they'll meet people their own age from all over the world. We're also looking for people who speak a second language."

As of this week, Tall Ships Bermuda has signed up 24 ships for the race, which starts on May 3 in Vigo, Spain. The organisers recently confirmed that the second largest sail training Tall Ship in the world, the Kruzenshtern (pictured above) will now be taking part.

The 375-foot Russian four-masted barque is a regular competitor in Tall Ships races and events and is easy to recognise, with distinctive black and white sides. These were common on ships that traded with the East, where the design imitated gunports to scare away pirates.

The Kruzenshtern will join the fleet in Vigo for the start of the 7,000-nautica-mile journey that will follow the traditional trading route of sailing ships in centuries past and take full advantage of prevailing winds.

From Vigo, the fleet will race to Tenerife, Canary Islands (May 14-17), then to Bermuda to participate in the Bermuda Tall Ships Festival in Hamilton from June 12-15. After Bermuda, the ships will race to Charleston, South Carolina (June 25-29), before sailing up the east coast of the US to Boston (July 8-13) and then on to Halifax, Canada (July 16-20) before the final Atlantic crossing eastwards back to Belfast, Northern Ireland (August 13-16).

While 24 ships have been confirmed this far, some 30 to 50 vessels from Europe, the US, Canada and Latin America are expected to have signed up by the time of the event.

To volunteer or to find out more visit www.tallshipsbermuda.com. Volunteers can also sign up on the Bermuda Volunteer Centre web site, which is linked to at http://www.centreonphilanthropy.org/.