Over the last few weeks, we have worked really hard to launch the website for the 2014 Tall Ships Races in Harlingen – an event which is going to be a great celebration of everything nautical. The website thetallshipsracesharlingen2014.com/en provides useful information for the companies that want to sponsor the project and for the young people who are willing to put their shoulders to the wheel as volunteers. It has been designed so that new information can gradually and easily be added during the build-up to 2014.
The Tall Ships Races are famous amongst sailing enthusiasts and recognised as a world-class event. The races between these beautiful sailing ships, the largest in the world, are organised by Sail Training International (STI), an organisation with official charity status and many branches, whose main aim is to give young people under 25 years of age an opportunity to have a unique, once-in-a-lifetime experience on the open sea by taking part in a sail training course that lasts several days. A particular emphasis is placed on supporting and encouraging handicapped young people too. The magnificent vessels with their young crews compete to win the Trophy for International Friendship and Understanding. In 2014, Harlingen is going to be the host port for the start of the races. The ships will then call in at Fredrikstad and Bergen in Norway, and head for the finish in Esbjerg, Denmark.
Interesting sponsorship opportunities
The Municipality of Harlingen has delegated the organisation of the Tall Ships Races, and the festivities running alongside the races, to a foundation set up specifically for that purpose, the Stichting Harlingen Sail, and has sponsored the Stichting with a generous initial budget. There are other sponsors too, including the HOV (Harlingen Business Association), JR Shipping Ship-Owning Group, the Province of Fryslân and the HSBA (Harlingen Seaport Business Association), and the Stichting is currently engaged in talks with several other companies of different sizes. Interest in the sponsorship opportunities which are available at the event is considerable. This makes good sense, because the Tall Ships Races have developed a unique reputation and always attract a large and very diverse audience thus guaranteeing extensive media coverage.
Harlingen Sail’s website, thetallshipsracesharlingen2014.com/en, has been developed and built by BekenT, a young Internet marketing agency in Heerenveen which specialises in marketing concepts which feature the Internet. With the innovative services and long-term technical support that it provides, BekenT is a ‘sponsor in kind’; a company which is making a contribution to the success of this purely international event in the best Frisian ‘festive tradition’. BekenT has managed to build a diverse, flexible website which is open to the public.
Volunteers are welcome!
The festivities surrounding the Tall Ships Races will begin on Thursday, 3rd July, and continue up to, and including, Sunday, 6th July. Approximately 80 to 100 Tall Ships will call at the West Frisian Sea Port of Harlingen. The organising foundation, the Stichting Harlingen Sail, has a vision of creating a diverse programme that will attract both young and old, and invites everyone to come up with ideas and put them on the website. News items about the programme will be published on the website and people can also subscribe to a free, online newsletter covering the event. Lots of activities for school-age children will be developed in the build-up to the Tall Ships Races. Harlingen Maritime Academy students will be among the people who are most closely involved in the maritime feast, but people without any maritime background are also warmly invited to apply to be volunteers on thetallshipsracesharlingen2014.com/en.
Note for the Editor
Please contact Stichting Harlingen Sail for more details. If you’d like to be regularly updated on what’s happening, please join the press list on the website (Press).