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Russia's legendary barque Kruzenshtern visited by some 20,000 guests at Finland’s Kotka

The Kruzenshtern’s crew and students took part in an international sailing festival, a sailing parade and other events

KALININGRAD, July 17. /TASS/. Some 20,000 people visited Russia’s legendary windjammer Kruzenshtern over its stay at the Finnish port of Kotka, the press service of the Baltic State Academy of the Fishing Fleet, the owner of the ship, said on Monday citing the ship’s captain, Mikhail Yeremchenko.

"The Kruzenshtern stayed at Finland’s port of Kotka from July 13 through 16 as part of the Tall Ships Race-2017. Over these three days, some 20,000 people visited the ship," Yeremchenko was quoted as saying.

The Kruzenshtern’s crew and students took part in an international sailing festival, a sailing parade and other events.

Along with the Kruzenshtern, Kotka hosted world’s biggest sailing ship The Sedov, which changed its home port from Murmansk to Kaliningrad earlier in the year. The crews of the two ships, both on training voyages, went toe-to-toe in a tug of war competition. The winners, The Kruzenshtern’s students shared the trophy - a cake - with their rivals from the Sedov.

The Kruzenshtern and other participants in the regatta sailed off from Kotka on Sunday to call at another Finnish port, Turku. The Kruzenshtern is expected to reach the destination on July 20.

The Kruzenshtern, a four-masted barque, was built in 1926 at Geestemnde in Bremerhaven, Germany and was given the Italian name of the Padua (after the Italian city). It was surrendered to the Soviet Union in 1946 as war reparation and renamed after the early 19th century Baltic German explorer in Russian service, Adam Johann Krusenstern (1770-1846). It is now a Russian Navy sail training ship. Of the four remaining Flying P-Liners, the former Padua is the only one still in use, mainly for training purposes, with her homeports in Kaliningrad (formerly Koenigsberg) and Murmansk. After the Sedov, another former German ship, it is the largest traditional sailing vessel still in operation. Over its 90-year history, along with participating and winning various international regattas and races, the Kruzenshtern has made two round-the-globe voyages and a trans-Atlantic expedition, covering an overall distance of 1.3 million nautical miles.