International sail training regatta The Tall Ships Races 2021, which Tallinn was supposed to host as one of the port cities, has announced it will cancel this year s event and will return to the Baltic Sea in 2024. Tallinn will hold a festival in the city s five ports on June 16-18, instead.
Tallinn deputy mayor Vadim Belobrovtsev noted that the decision to postpone the event was a difficult one. We were hoping until the final moment that this year s Tall Ships Races regatta would still take place in its regular and spectacular manner. But we were forced as one of the host cities to make the difficult decision due to coronavirus restrictions and the continuing spread of the virus to delay the event to 2024, the deputy mayor said.
A new exhibition at the Seaplane Harbor (Lennusadam) reflects on the history of the sailing regatta Tall Ships Races and its connections to Estonia. Tallinn is set to serve as one of the hosting ports of the international regatta in July.
The largest international sail training regatta Tall Ships Races visited Tallinn in 1992 and the fleet also made stops in Tallinn in 2007, 2013 and 2017 as part of the Cruise-in-Company initiative. Multiple Estonian yachts have participated in the regatta, also bringing home quite a few awards.
The theme area of the Seaplane Harbor hangar houses five world-class sailing ship models in addition to stories about Estonian vessels in the competition. The ship models on display are: Cutty Sark, Preussen, Krusenstern (ex. Padua), Kobenhavn and Thomas W. Lawson. Footage from Kalev Vapper of the 1986 regatta is also available.