The St. Petersburg Yacht Festival was presented for the first time in January, during the Düsseldorf Boat Show. The second meeting of the festival's organisers with the press was held in Moscow, at the Moscow Boat Show 2008.
The press conference where the St. Petersburg summer yachting event was announced was opened by Massimo Kyodo, President of Astra Marinas Group - the company which organises the St. Petersburg Yacht Festival. "One of the festival's objectives is to coordinate various yachting events taking place at different times and various locations around the Northern Capital. We'd like the festival which has its headquarters at the LenExpo premises to encompass several events, in particular the Baltic Boat Show, Aquatoria: the Luxury Life Style Show, the 5th Golden Dome International Classic Cars Rally, the Palace Cruise –Moscow to St. Petersburg superyacht journey, and various other races and regattas, invitation-only parties and presentations, conferences and competitions."
The first festival took place last year. Among other things it served as the venue for the premiere of Okhta, the Russian yacht which became the event's flagship. The upcoming summer is going to be a hot one: the festival will include the Baltic Boat Show which also takes place on the LenExpo grounds.
Says Olga Shishenina, BBS Director: "By joining forces, combining the energy of all participants of the festival we'll be able to achieve more. Our show will be held for the eleventh time. As of this year, we've decided to have it twice a year: in the summer the accent will be made on various PR events and test drives, while the winter show is positioned as a trade event with a serious business programme for the industry's professionals."
The format of the Golden Dome rally is also changing. Alexander Smirnov, owner of Old Time company and organiser of the 5th Golden Dome International Classic Cars Rally, told us about the event's programme: "For the first time ever, the cars will be taken from Moscow and brought directly to St. Petersburg one day before the rally begins, while the participants will come over as a group on the train or individually by whatever means they may choose. We have air taxis at our disposal, provided by our partner Dexter. There will be a veritable retro tournament in St. Petersburg between July 2 - 5. During these four days the participants will have to cover a difficult route mapped according to FIA requirements and the RAF rules."
Another event on the yacht festival's programme is Aquatoria: the Luxury Life Style Show. Its objective is to demonstrate the close connection between yachting lifestyle and the luxury style. Says Andrey Radzievsky, head of Aquatoria: the Luxury Life Style Show project: "We thought the idea to bring together two shows at the same venue - the yacht show and the luxury goods show - was a promising one. The festival's energy, its aura have prompted our media and publishing group to start this new project. Hopefully the fusion will result in a good synergy."
The yachting cruise from Moscow to St. Petersburg is first of all supposed to help the yachtsmen overcome a number of obstacles this trip involves. Many are put off because they don't know how to go through the locks, how to deal with traffic control along the way, don't have sailing directions for the lakes Ladoga and Onega. Sergey Akulenko, Director General of Marinecomplex and organiser of the Palace Cruise, stresses the important points of the upcoming trip: "We can have up to 40 yachts with very different characteristics taking part in the cruise. Our main objective is to make the journey safe and show there's nothing impossible about it to people who're still having doubts. During the whole trip to St. Petersburg and back we'll be dealing with all logistical and administrative issues, provide up-to-date weather forecasts, especially for such difficult sections as the Ladoga and Onega lakes. I'm sure the cruise will become an annual event, and the number of participants will grow every year."
Sergey Kostin
Photoreport
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