Yachting Monthly - April 2016

Seaplane Marina, where you can share a berth with an ice-breaker and a steam launch

Sign at Kalev YC, from the 1980 Moscow Olympics

View of the Old City, Tallinn, one of the world’s smallest capital cities Kadriorg Palace, Tallinn, built by Peter the Great as a summer home for his wife

62 http://www.yachtingmonthly.com APRIL 2016

CRUISING GUIDE

M

y journey began at Kalev Yacht

Club on the east side of Tallinn

Bay, built to host the sailing

events for the controversial

1980 Moscow Olympics. Local sailors

soon realised that its training facilities

would hold lasting benefits. As a result

of the Soviet determination to win gold

on the water, Estonians are among the

best in the world at racing and regattas.

The Estonian Yachting Union is now

making sure the cruising yachtsman is

also catered for.

I joined local skipper Uku Randmaa,

a 52-year-old builder who has

sailed solo around the world, for

a three-reef sail aboard his Hanse

43, Temptation III on the choppy

waters of Tallinn Bay, bound

for City Marina in the heart

of Tallinn itself.

Visiting yachts can also berth

alongside in the magnificent

Seaplane Harbour. Founded by

Tsar Nicholas II, it gives a good

overview of Estonia’s maritime history

and houses a submarine, an ice-breaker

and historic sailing yachts.

Tallinn’s medieval Old Town, which

is on the UNESCO World Heritage List,

charms visitors with historic buildings

and cobblestone streets, restaurants,

shops and hotels. I stayed at the Three

Sisters, which has hosted Queen Elizabeth

II and Prince Harry, and enjoyed a

lively evening at the medieval-themed

Peppersack restaurant where nightly

sword fights are performed during dinner.

The baroque Kadriorg Palace, set

in impressive grounds east of the city

centre, was built in 1718 by Peter the

Great of Russia as a summer holiday home

for his second wife, Catherine I. It’s now a

museum filled with Russian and Western

art. The nearby KUMU art museum

features local 18th century paintings.

Estonians are famous for their song

festivals, which have taken place every five

years since 1869. A unique folk-singing

culture has helped carry the state’s identity

through invaders from Denmark, Sweden,

Germany and Russia, with Estonia’s brief

first period of independence (1918-1940)

in between. Around 100,000 people

gather for these events at the national

Song Festival Grounds, a stone’s throw

north of Kadriorg.

A tour of Tallinn Bay

0 3nm

TALLINN

Tallinn old town

CityMarina Kalev YC

Tallinn Bay

Seaplane

Harbour

Song Festival

Grounds

Kadriorg Palace

Aegna

Solo circumnavigator Uku Randmaa and his Hanse 43

CHART: MAXINE HEATH

Welcome to Estonia

PHoTo: AlAMy

PHoTo: TouRIsT offICE of EsToNIA