Two new cruising rallies have been launched within days of one another as the Baltic becomes the new battleground for a war at sea by rival sailing companies.

The first to launch is a two-weeker, organised by Sailing Rallies with the unusual option of too busy entrants having their boats delivered to Scandinavia for them. The second is six-weeks long and run by ARC organisers, World Cruising Club.

The New Baltic 4 Nations Rally being organised is from Sailing Rallies, who launched their own Atlantic Rally earlier this year (see YM News February).The two week rally will be officially launched at the Southampton Boat Show, but a preview of the event will soon be available – as the Sailing Rallies team are actually sailing to the Baltic next week to garner first hand information.

John Simpson, managing director of Sailing Rallies said: ‘As with all our events, we want to ensure that the rally is well organised and will really ‘work’ for the participants. The best way we can do this is to actually sail the event ourselves and build the rally using our own experience.  We always maintain a high level of personal service, and a lot of planning has gone into our forthcoming trip.’

The rally will start and finish in Copenhagen, visiting the southern Baltic countries covering approximately 350 nautical miles. ‘We realised that lots of sailors want to explore the Baltic, but do not always have the time and inclination to sail across the North Sea and through the Kiel Canal.   We have teamed up with Professional Yacht Deliveries (PYD) so that yachtsmen who do not have time to sail the 700 or so miles to Copenhagen for the start of the rally, can have their boats delivered and returned to their home port at a fixed price,’ said Mr Simpson.

‘Uniquely, this will give UK yachtsmen a chance to visit the Baltic during their two week summer holiday. Exploring and discovering the sights, sounds, food and cultures of the four different countries along with the music and entertainment provided by the Sailing Rallies team, will ensure this will be a fortnight’s holiday not to be forgotten in a hurry!’  

The Baltic 4 Nations Rally 2014 will be led by Mr Simpson on his own boat Chiscos, a Warrior 40 (See YM Me And My Boat April)
 
Full details of this new rally will shortly be available on the Sailing rallies website at www.sailingrallies.com You will be able to follow their progress on the news section of the site and also at https://www.facebook.com/SailingRallies.

Just days after Sailing Rallies announced their Baltic rally, World Cruising Club announced their own Baltic cruise: the ARC Baltic Rally.  
This takes in St. Petersburg and the Swedish Archipelagos, but is four weeks longer than its rival.
 
It is billed as ‘A combination of days cruising at sea, combined with an exploration of the region’s culture and history, and will take cruisers on a 1,500nm voyage of discovery through Europe’s “east sea”.’

More information is obtainable at http://tinyurl.com/balticrally