This summer, a new format for the Nord Stream Race brings together some of the most high-achieving yacht clubs from the National Sailing Leagues: Starting on 25th August, the Baltic Sea’s best clubs to emerge from the 2016 season of the Sailing League will compete for the honour of becoming the “Best Yacht Club of the Baltic Sea”. The long-distance regatta takes the fleet from Kiel via Copenhagen, Stockholm and Helsinki to the finish in Saint Petersburg.

Yacht clubs from Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Russia will be competing this year at the relaunched Nord Stream Race. The clubs will be racing in a fleet of brand-new, one-design ClubSwan 50 racing yachts. From 25th August to 7th September, the 1,000 nautical mile race course follows the Nord Stream pipeline from Kiel to Saint Petersburg, with stopovers in Copenhagen, Stockholm and Helsinki. The goal of this revised format for the Nord Stream Race is “Connecting Baltic Nations through Sport”.

The renowned sailing clubs Norddeutscher Regatta Verein and Kieler Yacht-Club (Kiel), Kongelig Dansk Yachtklub (Copenhagen), Kungliga Svenska Segelsällskapet (Stockholm) and Helsingfors Segelklubb (Helsinki) are inviting crews and sailing fans to a series of events for a cultural and sporting encounter. At the finish, Saint Petersburg Yacht Club – one of the leading yacht clubs in Europe and main organiser of the race – invites Europe’s sailing elite to the award ceremony in this spectacular city.

Five champions have qualified to participate in the Nord Stream Race 2017 via their National Leagues from the previous season: Deutscher Touring Yacht-Club from Germany, Frederikshavn Sejlklub from Denmark, Cape Crow Yacht Club from Sweden, Nyländska Jaktklubben from Finland and Lord of the Sail – Europe from Russia. Each of the five sailing clubs will be sending a crew with ten of their best sailors.

This year’s Nord Stream Race has a direct connection with the National Sailing Leagues and the SAILING Champions League. These competitions form the qualification process for the Nord Stream Race and will offer all league clubs another high-class format to find out who are the best of the best in club fleet racing.

Their strong backing for the race shows just how committed Nord Stream AG and Gazprom have become in their support for sailing. Aside from supporting the Baltic offshore Nord Stream Race, the companies have joined forces with the National Sailing Leagues of the Northern European countries and Russia.

Sponsored by Nord Stream AG and Gazprom and in cooperation with the Saint Petersburg Yacht Club, the Nord Stream Race has been held annually since 2012. Initially, the regatta connected Russia and Germany, with the route following the Nord Stream Pipeline after which the competition was named.

The countries for the race stopovers have been chosen for a reason. The winners of the national sailing leagues of those countries will form five teams that are set to compete in the Nord Stream Race. The new course for the race will cement the event’s connection with Europe and enhance Nord Stream AG’s cooperation with the Northern European countries, as the company is also set to become the national leagues’ partner

The national sailing leagues’ calendar started in March and concludes in November 2017. Each of the five countries has more than 20 teams competing in their national leagues, all of them competing for the title of best yacht club. First to hit the water in the new season was the Russian Sailing League with an opening event on 23rd March 23 in Sochi.

From 2018 onwards, the organisers plan to include the current champion of the SAILING Champions League and also bring in other Baltic States as additional participants.

Main organiser Saint Petersburg Yacht Club is holding the new edition of the long- distance regatta through the Baltic Sea together with Konzeptwerft Holding GmbH from Hamburg, the marketing agency that launched the new concept, and which remains focused on developing innovative formats in sailing.

#nsr – Celebrations are in progress in Saint-Petersburg, Russia today as Team Great Britain onboard Swan 60 Tsaar Peter has just won the Nord Stream Race 2013 in the Gazprom Swan 60 Class! The British entry has two Irish youth sailors James O'Mahony and Simon Johnson onboard under skipper Adrian Stead.
After an exciting and nail biting race, which saw the Swan 60 fleet change race positions a number of times throughout the 800 nautical mile course, Team Great Britain were finally victorious and crossed the finish line in Saint-Petersburg at 03:33am local time. The team had managed to hold onto their first place position for the final 100nm of the race and beat previous race winners, Team Russia by just 26 seconds.
A fantastic finish to the Nord Stream Race saw Team GBR and Team Russia battle it out right to the end, crossing the finish line with less than a boats length between them. Over an 800nm race this is exceptional and the final few miles were dramatic to watch, with the 60ft yachts tacking and fighting hard for the first place position.
Speaking dockside as the winning crew celebrated, Skipper Adrian Stead commented; "The whole race was very close, the fleet stuck together the whole way. Earlier on we managed to get quite a good lead but then Team Russia and Team Germany sailed up to us again, then we got away again and in the last 100 miles we were trying so hard to keep Team Russia behind us, for most of that time there was only a 2-3 mile gap between us.
The last 10 miles to the finish became very light and Team Russia came up with a bit more wind from behind, we did quite a few tacks in the final few miles and we managed to hang onto our position and win. It has been absolutely mad! I give full credit to Team Russia and the other boats as they pushed us really hard.
It has been really great though, not a bad result for our first go at the Nord Stream Race! We had a fantastic team who have all been brilliant, all of them put in 110%. We have all been up on deck for the last 16 hours of the race, hiking it out and making sure every boat length worked. We pushed the boat incredibly hard and it all paid off for us, what brilliant results."
Jules Salter, Navigator onboard Team GBR spoke of the challenges throughout the race; "The race became a bit tricky at the end with all of the restrictions, there was a military zone and a test firing zone plus the commercial ships passing by; there was definitely plenty going on as we approached Saint-Petersburg. Overall it was a really interesting race, there were lots of weather situations going on and we were always close to land which had an effect on the weather, but it was really good.
I haven't sailed on a Swan 60 before and I would say it was quite nice; it was very quiet down below. On the race boats I usually sail on, you go down below and it sounds like all hell is breaking loose but on here it was quite relaxing and quiet down there which makes a great change. The Swan 60s are nice easy boats to sail and all even in speed, it was a great race with the other four boats."
Team Russia finished just 26 seconds behind Team Great Britain, an unheard of result in such an offshore race. Whilst dockside congratulating Team Great Britain, Tommaso Chieffi of Team Russia commented; "As we came towards the finish, I said to my boys that we should stop the roster as the best thing for the race would be to have a close finish! The crew which I really thank for the results, really pushed for the last 12 hours, without sleeping, without resting, everybody on the rail, it was not easy.
But we had what we hoped for with a close finish, it was a very competitive race and I think a different winner in year two makes the race more exciting. After 800 miles it is fairly unbelievable to think that you could finish with two boats so close together, with only one boat length separating us. Adrian Stead and his boys deserved the win, we are very pleased for them, they have been leading from day one and they had a great race, so congratulations to them."
In third place came Team Germany, followed by Team Turkey in fourth and Team Europe in fifth place. With only 5 hours between the 1st and 5th boat finishing, this has highlighted just how competitive the one-design Swan 60 Class has become, a Class which challenges sailors on their sailing ability, experience and knowledge. Over the 800 nautical miles each Swan 60 had taken the lead position at some point along the course, a fact which kept race followers guessing until the final moments and boats fighting it out the whole way.
Now docked along the English Embankment in Saint-Petersburg, the five Swan 60 yachts are an eye catching edition to the River Neva. Race crews will now have a well-earned rest before discovering the sights of Saint-Petersburg over the weekend; they will also enjoy a gala dinner at a prestigious venue in the city before a final prize giving takes place on Sunday at the Maritime Museum, Saint-Petersburg.
The Nord Stream Race has also concluded the Gazprom Swan 60 Class Circuit 2013.