First sailing championship and parade of sails in Ventspils

The Gulf of Riga Regatta, GORR, will take place June 27 – 30 at the yacht port of Ventspils, also hosting the Latvian Offsore Sailing Championship and the Livonia Cup Challenge.

The registration of participants and inspection of yacht equipment is scheduled for June 27 and 28. The first stage of the competition, both starting and finishing in Ventspils, will take place on June 29.

Residents and guests of Ventspils will have a unique opportunity to enjoy the first parade of sails this season June 28, 5 p.m. in the waters of the river Venta. All participants of the regatta will be present, demonstrating how graceful and magical yachts can be and how romantic they look with raised sails.

52 crews from Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Poland, Denmark and other countries have already registered for participation. It is possible to register by June 28, 4.00 p.m.

The yacht port of Ventspils is one of the sponsors of the regatta, offering free parking and similar services to the participants of the race (commune service outlets and auxiliary facilities). The services are provided by the owner and operator of the yacht port SIA “New Yacht Marina”, which also organizes the Regatta opening festival in the yacht port area.

Despite the complications due to the new coronavirus, the company New Yacht Marina has performed all necessary preparations in time to host guests at the port of yachts and provide high-quality service. Two new marina buoys have also been installed, which allows four more yachts to be parked, increasing the number of parking places to 50.

Everything is ready at the yacht port of Ventspils so that the sails race members are satisfied with their stay in Latvia.  Before the competition starts, they will have the opportunity to lift the boats out of the water and clean the hull preparing them for the race.

“Sailors are always distinguished by with strength, endurance, wisdom, the ability to control the wind, and at the same time to respect the sea and its power. This is also the case today, when the fight against the coronavirus pandemic is taking place, and because of the various constraints the whole economy is suffering and people have cancelled their travel plans. Despite this, the company New Yacht Marina is continuing work and is prepared to host yachts both this season, and in the future,” says port manager Linards Volks.

New Yacht Marina is taking this difficult time to continue the development of the yacht port of Ventspils. When implementing the “EST-LAT 55” project included in the cross-border “Interreg” programme, as well as through investments made by its shareholders (Baltic Marine Holding Company, main owner – entrepreneur Igor Šechelev), the company continues to implement the second phase of the reconstruction. As part of it, the redevelopment of service port buildings is taking place. The construction work is to be completed by October 30, this year, taking into account all the requirements of the project.

The yacht port of Ventspils, with the help of the mobile crane Roodberg PHA-35, has already lifted up two more than 50-feet-long yachts in the new season to make an emergency repair of the underwater part. Port manager Linards Volks points out: “We hope that preparation of yachts for the season will continue to be a widely demanded service.”

He estimates that the results achieved by the yacht port of Ventspils by the end of 2021 will exceed the performance in 2020 by 10-15%; servicing about 600 yachts a season.