The tall ships event Tall Ships Regatta is in Klaipėda again!
The tall ships event Tall Ships Regatta is in Klaipėda again! This time Klaipėda port is the starting point of the race.
Today, the 18th of August, at 3pm, the press conference took place in the media center of the regatta to signify the beginning of the event. The people who took part in the conference were the chairman of Sail Training International organization Robin Snouck Hurgronje; the race director Peter Newell; STI country representative and the captain of the yacht Lietuva Osvaldas Kudzevičius; and Klaipėda mayor Vytautas Grubliauskas.
The leaders of STI organization were excited to come back to Klaipėda. The return of the regatta after two years was determined by the excellent event organization in 2009. In the words of the race director Peter Newell, “usually the ports face smaller or bigger problems while hosting such event for the first time, but Klaipėda surprised by having no troubles at all. Due to the great organizational culture, hospitality and the work of devoted volunteers, the Tall Ships Regatta is back in Klaipėda“. According to the STI representatives, they gave some consideration to Klaipėda already 10 years ago, but back then Klaipėda was not technically ready to host the regatta.
Tall Ships Races is not only the event for the city and its citizens, but also the event for developing and spreading youth sail training and the culture of sailing in general. The organizers of the races seek to raise interest in sailing to as many people as possible and to instill good emotions in citizens. In the race, which starts this Sunday in Klaipėda, two Lithuanian ships will take part as well. These participants will be the tall ship of Klaipėda University Brabander, and yacht Lietuva, which is the old and constant participant of international sailing events and also not a first-time participant of Tall Ships Races. Osvaldas Kudzevičius to the question of why Lithuania is represented by so few sailers in this race, answered that the primary reason is the economic situation.
Concerning the economic perspective of the regatta, Mr. Grubliauskas disclosed that the event has cost 900 thousand litas. But, according to the representatives of STI, the return to Klaipėda city will be from 1 to 10 times greater. The mayor expressed his gratitude for the return of the regatta to Klaipėda.
Many journalists were very interested if the citizens will have a chance to enjoy the beauty of the tall ships’ sails during the sail parade in the harbor this year. How soon the ships will raise their sails this year will only depend on the weather conditions. The ships usually raise their sails in the open waters outside the harbor because doing that in the harbor with limited space might be very dangerous. The race itself will start in Klaipėda this year, in the open waters, right after citizens say goodbye to the ships. The race will continue to Turku and finish in Gdynia.
Around 1200 crew members and 73 volunteers are taking part in the regatta 2011.
In the opening ceremony of the The Culture 2011 Tall Ships Regatta , which took place in the Cruise ship terminal, the citizens, captains and crews were greeted by the city mayor Vytautas Grubliauskas, the director of Klaipėda port Eugenijus Gentvilas, and the event director and STI representative Robin Snouck Hurgronje.
Robin Snouck Hurgronje expressed his excitement that the regatta has had a chance to return to Klaipėda with the ships from 9 countries. Vytautas Grubliauskas, Eugenijus Gentvilas and Robin Snouck Hurgronje traditionally wished the ships fair winds.

























