The first «Great Arctic Regatta», the most northern regatta in the world, will take place along the route Murmansk - Naryan-Mar (Nenets Autonomous District) - Murmansk in 2020. Participants are expected to cover 1,200 nautical miles in 2 weeks.
In July 2019, an experienced crew had already completed this route, exploring the depths and selecting anchorage sites and shelter bays.
This training was doubly necessary given that the participants in the Polar Regatta will be non-professional crews. Safety and sailing training will be provided by experienced captains.
Specialists from big science centres of the country will take part in the project. Oceanologists, zoologists, meteorologists and ecologists are interested in collecting data in places previously inaccessible to scientists. Each boat will provide a place for a researcher.
«We assume that there will be foreign participants as crew members. Perhaps then there will be foreign boats, but definitely not at the first regatta»," Stanislav Koryakin, the initiator and general producer of the regatta, told TASS agency in spring 2019
At the end of November 2019, a cooperation agreement was signed between the regatta organizers and the Russian Ministry of Defense «Oboronlogistika LLC». Within the framework of this partnership it is planned to develop the civil use of the water areas of the northern seas of Russia.
« «Forming an effective transport and logistics system in Russia is one of the key activities of LLC Oboronologistika . The Arctic and the Northern Sea Route are a priority region in this sense. That's why cooperation with ANO Big Arctic Regatta is not accidental for us , - explains General Director Oboronologistika Andrey Nazarov.» «»»«»
The support of «Oborongistics» will allow organizing the work of the regatta headquarters on the basis of the existing Situation and Logistics Center. Typically the center is used to track real-time information about the weather, ice conditions, and vehicle movements. It can be used for control of regatta participants' movements, while for the fans there will be a continuous online broadcast of the race and with the help of modern methods based on GPS and GLONASS to update the tracking of the courses 24 hours a day.
Besides «Oboronlogistika», the project is also supported by the Ministry of Natural Resources, the government of Murmansk region and other structures. «» The advisor of the rector of the Russian International Olympic University Ivan Linkov, vice-president of the Sberbank of Russia Alexey Loginov, the founder of the company «Power of the Wind» Maxim Pinigin, the expert in transport systems and the Russian North Dmitry Krukov, the White Sea yacht-club in Kandalaksha, the research center of the Murmansk region, and others have already become friends of the regatta.Kandalaksha and research project «Kartesh Polar Expedition».
In 2021 the route will be extended to the Sabetta port , and by 2022- all the way to the Bering Strait . The total length of the Northern Sea Route fromthe Kara Strait between the Barents Sea and the Kara Sea in the west to the Chukchi Bay of Provideniya in the east is 5,600 km.
Development of the regatta will simultaneously contribute to the development of the small civil fleet in the Arctic as a whole.
«While Russia owns one third of the Arctic, a huge part of our country in the XXI century is actually a "white spot" for most of its residents. We will paint it with our sails», - says the official website of the regatta.
It is expected that apart from creating infrastructure for water recreation modern materials technologies will be used and functional food suitable for polar conditions will be developed.
Within the framework of the first BAR regattas area mapping will be made. Participants will explore anchorage sites and fairways of the Northern Sea Route and will visit places where many tourists have never set foot.
«In fact, participants«Big Arctic Regatta» will outline and pass a new tourist route», - say the organizers.
In parallel, the development of maritime tourism in the Arctic will be engaged and Rostourism. In April 2019, the Ministry of Economic Development instructed the agency to draft a corresponding program. Although the activity will be aimed at creating favorable conditions for cruise ships, it is obvious that the benefit of improved port infrastructure, elaborate routes and programs of tourist activity on shore will also be available to yachtsmen who decide to travel in the Arctic on their own. Just the equipment of checkpoints on shore, which will allow sightseeing, stands out. According to the Ministry of Economic Development nearly 230 coastal points may potentially receive tourists in the Russian Arctic.
