MARKET UPDATE: ESTONIA
MARKET UPDATE: ESTONIA Roomassaare Harbour enjoys a good racing heritage and offers 70 berths at a 20-year-old Marinetek floating pontoon system. Marina World in Roomassaare Harbour, a 20-year-old 70-berth marina that has a good sailing club and racing heritage. Every summer season, the marina welcomes around 200 visiting boats – mostly from Germany – to its Marinetek floating pontoon system. “Roomassaare enjoys a busy season but the busiest in the group are Kuivastu Marina and Ringsu Harbour on the island of Ruhnu [Gulf of Riga]. We intend to double the number of berths at Ringsu. We currently have 38,” he says. Finding room for all at Kuivastu Marina – which opened in 2012 on the easternmost tip of Saaremaa – can be a challenging exercise for harbourmaster Olev Vahter but one suspects he takes to the task with relish. “We’ve 50 berths but during regatta time we find space for many, many more,” he chuckles. Events like the Muhu Väin Regatta (Moonsund Reggatta) attract a big following. In the 2016 Moonsund event, for example, Kuivastu Marina hosted 125 boats carrying a total of 800 people. The overall visitor level for the 2016 season was 847 boats carrying a total of 2,581 boaters. Fortunately, the marina has good, modern shoreside facilities. SL Marinas runs a customer programme with a discount scheme to encourage members to cruise between its facilities and has been working with newly established Estonian software specialist Marina Ahoy in the development of a marina management and reservation system. Marina Ahoy co-founders Hannes Koppel and Relika Metsallik-Koppel have developed a reservations App for boaters that offers a real time overview of berth availability and self check-in options. All boaters check in and out of every marina using the system thus providing SL with valuable data on how each marina is used and streamlining reservations. All berthing fees include use of power and water so no system is required for separate billing but the team is currently developing software to control security gate access. Going cruising In cruising terms, Estonia can be divided into five geographical sectors: the Gulf of Finland; West Estonia; the island of Hiiumaa; the island of Saaremaa; and the Gulf of Riga. In addition to this, there are two major lakes – Peipus, which is bisected by the Russian border – and Lake Vörtsjärv. Estonia’s only fully navigable river, the Emajõgi (‘Mother’ in Estonian) runs for 100km (62mi) from one lake to the other via the city of Tartu. Pirita TOP and Pirita KJK Pirita TOP (Tallinn Olympic Yacht Centre) and Pirita KJK (Kalev Yacht Club - pictured) are adjacent facilities with good infrastructure. KJK has 170 berths for boats up to 24m (79ft) and 3.5m (11ft) draft at quayside moorings and floating pontoons with fingers. TOP can berth 325 boats and accepts vessels up to 50m (164ft), 2.8m (9ft) draft. Kalev Yacht Club, founded in 1948, trained many Olympic sailors and has 600 club members. It has recently undergone a pontoon extension undertaken by Top Marine and is one of several marinas in Estonia to join the Helloports berth reservation system. Launched in spring this year, Helloports is operated by Estonian Small Harbour Development Centre and is part of the Smartports project. The service currently connects marinas and sailors in Europe, North Africa and the Arabian Peninsula enabling boaters to book and pay for berths and other services at the marina of their choice. It’s simple, secure and provides boaters with a single source of information that enables them to compare berth prices and marina facilities. The marina benefits from electronic payments and the gathering of customer data. 38 www.marinaworld.com - July/August 2017
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