The Culture 2011 Tall Ships Regatta, Turku, Aug 26 - 28, special postmark

To mark Turku's European Capital of Culture year, Sail Training International (STI) and the City of Turku organized the Culture 2011 Tall Ships Regatta on the Baltic Sea. Members of international non-profit organisation STI comprise international sail training organisations and other instances that maintain vessels and arrange sail training.

An impressive fleet of beautiful sailing ships including the giants of the sea Kruzenshtern (Russia, 113 m), Mir (Russia, 109 m) and Dar Mlodziezy (Poland, 109 m) participated.

The event will be a highlight of the Capital of Culture year. The 2011 event is launched in Klaipeda, Lithuania, where the vessels began their voyage to Turku. The journey from Finland continued to the the final port of the race in Gdynia, Poland.

The Tall Ships Races event has previously been hosted by Turku in 1996, 2003 and 2009, attracting a satisfied audience of hundreds of thousands from around the country.

Text Source: tallships2011.fi

Many thanks to my friend, Edina at MyPhilately.com for arranging this cover to my growing collection of postmarks.

There are two stamps on the envelope. First stamp shows the Training Ship Suomen Joutsen, issued in 1972. The second stamp was issued in 2010.