Release
Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee, Alexander Beglov, Acting Governor of St. Petersburg, and Vladimir Lyubomirov, President of the regional sports public organization St. Petersburg Yacht Club, today signed at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum 2019 a Cooperation Agreement in the area of physical education and sports.
The Agreement was made due to the expiration of a similar trilateral document signed in 2013.
The parties are focusing especially on promoting St. Petersburg as a venue for key sailing competitions at both national and international levels. For instance, the city became the first place in Russia to host the events of the Extreme Sailing Series global catamaran race, as well as the World Match Racing Tour and Sailing Champions League races.
The new Agreement will be effective up to 2022, its main purpose being to further promote and popularize sailing, inter alia, at the levels of children’s, youth, amateur and big-time sports.
The parties will contribute to the hosting of spectacular sailing events in St. Petersburg, namely festivals and regattas, including international competitions such as the major RS:X (Olympic class) world windsurfing championship, which is scheduled for 2019.
Gazprom and the Government of St. Petersburg will continue supporting the St. Petersburg Yacht Club in organizing and holding the Nord Stream Race, the largest offshore regatta in the Baltic Sea. With assistance from Gazprom, the club’s leading sailing crew – the Bronenosec Sailing Team – will take part in high-profile yacht races at the international level. A unique youth project named Hope of the Seas will continue, providing training sessions in sailing for students and the city’s youth on the legendary schooner Nadezhda, which was built and launched in 1912. As before, the company will support the Sailing Academy (founded by the St. Petersburg Yacht Club) in training young athletes.
The Government of St. Petersburg will facilitate the construction of a large modern museum complex – the Poltava Sailboat cultural and historical center, which will become a focal point for studying the city’s naval history.
Background
The St. Petersburg International Economic Forum 2019 is being held at the EXPOFORUM Convention and Exhibition Centre from June 6 to 8. This year’s key topic is Creating a Sustainable Development Agenda.
With support from Gazprom, the St. Petersburg Yacht Club is now re-constructing in full scale the Poltava vessel – a fourth-rate 54-gun ship of the line, which was the first ship of the line to have been built at the St. Petersburg Admiralty Shipyards. The ship will become the centerpiece of the Poltava Sailboat cultural and historical center. The vessel has been launched and its fitting-out is currently in progress.
The international Nord Stream Race regatta has been held annually since 2012. Today, the regatta unites the best teams of the national sailing leagues from Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, and Russia. The 8th season of the race will take place from June 22 to July 5, 2019. Russia will be represented by the Leviathan team – the winner of the 2018 National Sailing League Top Division.
The Sailing Academy (an independent non-profit supplementary education organization) was founded in 2012. It teaches sailing to several hundreds of young athletes from St. Petersburg and provides future sailing coaches from the Lesgaft National State University of Physical Education, Sport and Health with theoretical and practical training. Among the students of the Academy are world and European champions, as well as prize winners of national competitions and championships.
