July 19, 2019
The Baltic Yacht Week is over
From July 10 to July 17, for the third year in a row, in St. Petersburg at various venues of the city, events were held as part of the main maritime festival of the Northern capital “Baltic Yacht Week”. By tradition, entry to all events was free. Organizers: St. Petersburg Tourism Development Committee, St. Petersburg Sailing Union.
The festival was launched by the marshal schooner Lady L, a beautiful vessel styled as an 18th century ship. The sailboat moored at the University Embankment and was open to the public for two days. During this time, he was visited by 1.5 thousand people. On July 12 and 13, in the format of an open ramp on the Promenade des Anglais, a unique sailboat “Poltava” worked, an exact copy of the first battleship of the Nevsky Fleet of Peter the Great, in the design and construction of which the emperor himself participated. During the festival, 2 thousand people visited him completely free of charge. On July 15, another grandiose sailboat, the Hope, built over 100 years ago and serving as the main symbol of the St. Petersburg holiday Scarlet Sails took over the baton of the open ladder. 1 thousand people visited the crew on that day.
On Friday and weekends festival guests received the beach of the Peter and Paul Fortress. For three days, there was a “Sea Village” with thematic workshops, a cinema-lecture hall, yacht expositions, an exhibition of educational programs in St. Petersburg, yachting simulators, and demonstration performances of windsurfers. In addition, residents and guests of the city could watch the competitions of professional yachtsmen: in the water area of the Neva the fifth stage of the All-Russian regatta “National Sailing League” took place, in which 20 titled teams took part. Here, all the days of the festival, there was a photo exhibition “Petersburg – the sailing capital of Russia”, telling about sailing in the Northern capital today.
A large entertainment program prepared by the organizers for the guests of the festival on Saturday evening. The Chest cover band, Cuban sextet Yoel Gonzalez Philoritmica, as well as the famous musician and singer Maxim Leonidov, one of the founders of the legendary Beat Quartet The Secret, performed on the stage. Artists on the stage were replaced by beautiful sailboats on the water, illuminated by neon lights. Accompanied by classical music, they performed “Sail Ballet” for the audience. The final chord was a festive firework. More than 80 thousand people watched the evening show.
The festival held the largest thematic conference in the city, which attracted the attention of a wide range of boaters, government and business representatives. Partner of the conference was the publishing house "Kommersant" in St. Petersburg. The speakers of the event agreed that the yacht infrastructure of St. Petersburg today is noticeably lagging behind most of the coastal European cities. At the same time, the city has all the opportunities for development in this direction: the long-standing maritime traditions, the tourist attractiveness of the city on the Neva, and the interest of the inhabitants of St. Petersburg on a maritime theme. To solve this problem, according to experts, a common action and a single control center are needed. In addition, the financial support of the city and the elaboration of public-private partnership formats, on which the yacht infrastructure system in European cities is built, are important.
The festival held open days at the River Yacht Club of Trade Unions and the Krestovsky Island Sailing School. Visitors could get acquainted with the yacht infrastructure of the city, as well as ask all the questions about training in sailing in St. Petersburg.
“This year we have made the festival program even more diverse. The coastal part has noticeably expanded, where guests could test themselves in the role of a shipbuilder, sailor, sailor, learn more about sailing culture first-hand in the lecture hall and join this fascinating sport from various sides. During the festival, the Poltava sailboat, one of the most ambitious shipbuilding projects in the world, was opened for free visits. It is not surprising that there were a lot of those who wanted to board it. We were able to gather a large audience for the business program. I believe that such meetings are very important for the development of the industry. We feel that from year to year the festival is gaining momentum, and we are confident that in the foreseeable future it will become one of the largest yachting holidays in Europe, ”commented Sergey Alekseev, President of the St. Petersburg Sailing Union.
91 July 19, 2019 # 9276
Chief Editor
