The city is signing a contract to host an offshore regatta
A contract between the city of Tallinn and Tall Ships Races International Limited (STI) that obligates Tallinn to host and organise the international sail training regatta The Tall Ships Races in 2024 was forwarded by the City Government to the City Council for approval.
Deputy Mayor Vadim Belobrovtsev noted that Tallinn had already submitted its candidacy in 2018. That same year It had been decided that Tallinn would be one of the ports to host The Tall Ships Races in 2021. “However, the regatta was postponed to 2024 due to the coronavirus. Despite the fact that the largest training regatta The Tall Ships Races was cancelled last year, we as a proper port city still offered people a great maritime festival in the summer. The international sailing regatta Baltic Regatta 2021 also took place in cooperation with Klaipeda and Szczecin as part of Sail Tallinn. The event brought numerous maritime attractions to Tallinn and was also the main rehearsal for the grand event in 2024,” explained Belobrovtsev. “But we have to sign a new contract to be able to organise the sailing regatta in 2024. The Tall Ships Races is the largest event of its kind in the world. It brings together around 50 large and 30-40 small sailboats as well as 30-50 large sailing yachts in one port, totalling 3000-3500 crew members. The city is obliged to offer the participating sailboats, sailing yachts and their crew members a comprehensive programme that introduces Tallinn, create opportunities to socialise and offer activities aimed at youths, including activities to practise sailing. The peculiarity of a sail training ship is that at least half of the sailing team has to be aged between 16-25 years of age.”Sail Training International organises The Tall Ships Races, an internationally recognised offshore regatta event for sailboats, in different parts of the world every year. As part of that, the area around Tallinn’s port, from the Old City Harbour to Noblessner, will be turned into the location of a maritime festival for five days, during which visitors can experience lively events.
Regattas take place on the Baltic Sea after every 3-5 years, giving the port cities an opportunity to accelerate their economic development and increase incomes. Almost all capitals and larger port cities among the Baltic Sea’s coastal cities have hosted The Tall Ships Races’ fleet: Helsinki, Stockholm, Mariehamn, Copenhagen, Riga. Tallinn hosted the fleet in 1992. The previous maritime festival on the Baltic Sea took place in 2017, the route being Halmstad – Kotka – Turku – Klaipeda – Szczecin.
A contract was signed in 2018 between Tallinn and Tall Ships Races International Limited to organise the event in 2021, but the city needs to sign a new contract due to the regatta being postponed until 2024. The conditions are essentially the same as they were in the 2018 contract. However, Tallinn does receive a 25% discount on the fee that it has to pay for organising rights, meaning the fee is 117,375 pounds sterling instead of the previous 156,500. In accordance with Tallinn’s application for candidacy, a budget of 1.7 million euros is planned for The Tall Ships Races 2024.
Mayor Mihhail Kõlvart will receive authorisation to sign the contract to make Tallinn the hosting port.