Tall Ships Race - GDYNIA July 2 - 5, 2009

Date of Issue: June 30, 2009
Quantity printed: 350,000
Printing technique: Steel engraving and photogravure
Paper: Fluorescent
Artist: Kazimierz Bulik
Engraving by: Tomasz Złotkowski

Gdynia is a city in the Pomeranian Voivodeship of Poland and an important seaport at Gdańsk Bay on the south coast of the Baltic Sea.

This year's Tall Ships' Races are held on the Baltic Sea again. The ships started at Gdynia (as they did in 2003) on 5 July and finished the first leg of the races in St Petersburg, Russia. After four days in this enchanting city, the fleet sailed to Turku, the former capital of Finland. This was a Cruise-in-Company leg, where the vessels do not compete. There was a crew exchange, which contributed to the building up of mutual friendship and understanding. The final leg will be a race again, which will finish at Klaipeda, Lithuania. Gdynia's twin city hosted the Races for the first time ever.

On the occasion of the Tall Ships' Races, Poczta Polska issued a stamp in block. The stamp presents a silhouette of "Dar Mlodzieży" against the panorama of the port of Gdańsk. "Dar Młodzieży" is a frigate built in 1982 and also a training vessel of the Gdynia Maritime University (the State Maritime School, Maritime Academy).

Click here to know more about Dar Mlodziezy.

Source: poczta-polska.pl, wikipedia, and zagle.miasto.gdynia.pl