The City of Turku, Finland, has received a prize for promoting and encouraging sailing sports and culture from Turku Yacht Club. The investment and commitment of the City of Turku has enabled four successful Swan Regattas starting with the Swan Anniversary Regatta in 2006 with 78 participating Swan yachts, celebrating Nautor’s 40^th and Turku Yacht Club’s 100^th anniversaries. In 2012 there were 56 Swans racing in the Archipelago Regatta. When Nautor celebrated its 50^th Anniversary in 2016, there were two major regattas, one in Turku and the other one in Porto Cervo. In both regattas there were more than 100 boats. Finally, last summer 2021 there was the first ever Swan European Regatta organised in the Baltic Sea area. Despite the Covid 19 pandemic, there were 43 yachts, including Swan 36 Tarantella I, the first Swan ever built.

Turku Yacht Club wishes to thank the City of Turku for its commitment and support to sail racing culture by offering a new rotating trophy donated by Samuli Salanterä who has acted as Commodore for the Turku Yacht Club for 18 years and is now resigning from his position.

Salanterä, board member of Oy Nautor Ab and also former president of the Finnish Sailing and Boating Federation, has been nominated by the Finnish Olympic Committee to the board of FINCIS, the national anti-doping agency (Nada).

The trophy’s silver bowl is from 1917 and the base is made from the deck planks of the square rigger Suomen Joutsen (Swan of Finland). The founder of Nautor, Pekka Koskenkylä named the Swan brand after this magnificent sailing ship, which is moored in the River Aura, outside the Turku Maritime Museum, Forum Marinum.

The world’s largest luxury cruise ships are currently built in Turku and Turku is the capital of Finnish Naval Headquarters. Outside Turku is one of the most stunning archipelagos in the world and the city of Turku has invested a lot in the development of the sea cluster. Turku has hosted already five Tall Ships Races and will be hosting the sixth in 2024.