OREANDA-NEWS. July 17, 2009. The first race of the prestigious international sail training ships’ regatta “The Tall Ships’ Races Baltic-2009”, finished in St. Petersburg on 11 July 2009. More than 100 sail ships, with more than two thousand cadets from maritime colleges and academies of more than 50 countries on board, moored at the Angliyskaya Embankment and the Leytenant Shmidt Embankment of the Vasilyevsky Island.

The solemn ceremony for awarding the winners of Race 1 of the regatta took place in the Dvortsovaya Square on 12 July. The ceremony was attended by Russia’s Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, by the Governor of St. Petersburg Valentina Matviyenko and by members of the Russian Government.

The sail regatta “The Tall Ships’ Races Baltic-2009” was supported by the City of Antwerp which is the general sponsor and by Russia’s largest shipping company – OAO Sovcomflot (St. Petersburg), which was the presenting partner of the event. The decision to support the regatta and to nominate sail ship Mir, owned by the Admiral Makarov State Maritime Academy, to participate was made in the context of the efforts aimed by Sovcomflot at promoting professional training, seamen’s profession and the involvement of young people in the industry. Sovcomflot (SCF) Group has experience in sponsoring large international events and bringing them to St. Petersburg. Examples of this include the “Nokia-OOPS Cup 2005”. The trimaran yacht sponsored by Sovcomflot, together with the Swedish company “Stena Bulk”, won the races and set up a speed record for this type of sail ships – more than 42 miles per hour; the annual swimming competitions “Vladimir Salnikov’s Cup” and the “Tall Ships’ Races”.

On 14 July 2009 the sail ships left St. Petersburg and started Race 2 for Turku (Finland).