| For sailors Sail ships will come to Klaipeda
Jolita Kraniauskaite
When Klaipeda was not included in the list of host
cities for the prestigious regatta of big sail ships Tall Ship's Races in the Baltic Sea
in 2007, municipality leaders decided not to give in and started looking for alternative
possibilities to invite sail ships and boats to the most impressive summer event in the
port city, the Sea Festival.
The mayor of Rostock Arno Poker who visited Klaipeda during
the general conference of the Union of the Baltic Cities proposed one such possibility.
This year Rostock is organizing a traditional Hanse Sail Regatta, that appears to be a
part of "Baltic Sail" Regatta for the 8-th year already. This German city which
is more or less of the same size as Klaipeda attracts millions of tourists.
Last year 260 ships came to the spectacular festival held in Rostock in the second week of
August. The local residents and the guests had a wonderful possibility not only to sail on
impressive traditional sail ships, but also to fly by planes landing directly on the
water: there were 17 such planes providing the service. Such marine festivals are becoming
centres of tourist attraction.
The first Baltic Sail regatta took place in 1997. Four ports participated in it: Helsingor
in Denmark, Gdansk in Poland, Karlskrona in Sweden and Rostock in Germany. Later on Lubeck
(Germany) and Norkoping (Sweden) joined the circle of host cities. The main objective of
the regatta is to revive traditional sailing in the Baltic Sea, to give the youth a
possibility to taste the real marine life sailing on a training sailboat and to allow the
citizens to sense the beauty of traditional ships and romantics.
The mayor of Klaipeda Rimantas Taraskevicius will sign the agreement about joining the
Baltic Sail organization this year already.
The meeting of the Baltic Sail committee will be held in Klaipeda in the beginning of
June. It will discuss the details of accommodating the sail ships in our port city and the
means of promoting the regatta itself. It is considered reasonable to present us on a
joint Baltic Sail stand in Dusseldorf Boot, one of the biggest water entertainment fairs
that takes place in Dusseldorf every January.
The good news is that already this year the 48 m long Finnish schooner Linden will come to
the Sea Festival In Klaipeda on July 23-25. Let's hope that it will become the first
swallow forecasting the rebirth of the traditional sailing in Lithuania and will add a
real marine touch to our Sea Festival.
During the Sea Festival on July 22-24, 2005 Klaipeda will become the first port hosting
the Baltic Sail regatta. We hope that the ships visiting our port will spread all over the
world the good news about the friendly and hospitable people living here seeking to make
Lithuania a maritime state in the full sense of the word, respecting and cherishing
maritime culture and traditions.
Attention! Everybody wishing to order a 5-hour trip on a sail ship can
address the Department of International Relations and Tourism of Klaipeda Municipality
already now. E-mail: uzsienio@klaipeda.lt |
