‘Sail Training International’ and the hosting ports of the 2021 regatta made a hard decision to cancel the world’s largest training regatta for this year due to the COVID-19 restrictions and the ongoing spread of the pandemic. The regatta will return to the Baltic Sea in 2024.
Tallinn will be holding a maritime festival in the five ports of the city centre on 16-18 July, while observing national restrictions and instructions from the Health Board, and is also planning to organise a two-stage regatta on the Baltic Sea in cooperation with Klaipeda and Szczecin.
The difficult decision to postpone ‘The Tall Ships Races Tallinn 2021’ international regatta until 2024 was made due to the current situation which has resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic. The traditional maritime festival in the five city centre ports of Tallinn will certainly be taking place though.
Vadim Belobrovtsev, deputy mayor of Tallinn, admits that the decision was made with a heavy heart. ‘We were hoping until the very last moment that this year’s ‘The Tall Ships Races’ regatta would be taking place in its normal grandiose manner. Due to the restrictions which have been imposed due to the coronavirus pandemic and the ongoing spread of the virus, however, we were forced to make this hard decision along with the other ports which were supposed to be hosting the regatta this year, confirming that the 2021 training regatta will be postponed until 2024. Due to the worldwide situation, ‘The Tall Ships Races’ will become ‘The Small Ships Races this year’,’ joked Belobrovtsev about the situation.
The maritime festival which is to be held on 16-18 July will be taking place in the Old City Harbour cruise area, as well as in the Kalaranna Quarter, around the Patarei Sea Fortress, at the Seaplane Harbour, and in the Noblessner Port area. Artists from Estonia and abroad will be providing entertainment in the ports as well as on the water. There will be outdoor cafés, children’s play areas, a fish market, and a handicraft fair, as well as a sea taxi which will be transporting participants from one port to another.
The ‘Tall Ships Races 2022’ international training regatta will be held on the North Sea with Esbjerg, Harlingen, Antverpen, and Aalborg participating as hosting ports. The 2023 training regatta is also going to be held as scheduled. The ports of Tallinn will be visited by the tall ships in 2024 when the training regatta will return to the Baltic Sea.