Connecting Baltics through Sports

In what must be the king of all inter-club events, the five best sailing clubs from the Baltic countries Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Russia will be competing this year at the 6th edition of the Nord Stream Race, a 1,000 nautical mile course across the Baltic Sea.

The clubs will be fielding teams to sail the brand-new, one-design seriously sweet ClubSwan 50, supplied by the St. Petersburg Yacht Club. Starting August 26, these five crews of 10 will race for eleven days from Kiel, Germany via the Scandinavian cities of Copenhagen, Stockholm and Helsinki to the finish at Saint Petersburg, Russia.

This ain’t no team race in Sonars.

The qualification system for the Nord Stream Race is tied to the National Sailing Leagues, a series of races launched in 2013 to annually determine the “Best Sailing Club of the Year”. The five competing clubs were the 2016 national champions from the five Baltic countries. The crews must all be members of the club they represent, with no more than four of the ten having professional Group 3 status

The Baltic Sea connects millions of sailors and water sportsmen, and it is a mission of the Nord Stream Race to keep the contact between the 50 predominantly young sailors in the foreground.

“Just as we have connected yacht clubs from five different countries with the planning of the boat race course, we want to create a great sense of belonging among the 50 participating sailors,” says initiator Vladimir Lubomirov of St. Petersburg Yacht Club. “With this international yacht race, we want to promote the exchange between the Baltic sailors and show how diverse and great the sailing life is.”

Amen to that!