Viva Malta National Offshore Sailing Boat launched

The Viva Malta National Offshore Sailing Boat, which will provide an opportunity for Maltese sailors to compete in the international offshore circuit, has been officially launched.

The ceremony was held at the Mediterranean Maritime Hub and presided over by Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Capital Projects Aaron Farrugia and Minister for Education, Sport, Youth, Research and Innovation Clifton Grima, together with Yachting Malta and Sport Malta.

The sailing boat was blessed by Mons. Victor Grech.

Viva Malta will now be passed on to SportMalta and the Malta Sailing Federation, who will work together to administer this initiative.

Minister Farrugia said that the Viva Malta National Offshore Sailing Boat concept has been made possible through an investment of approximately €400,000, born through an initiative submitted by Yachting Malta with the full support of the government.

“This project ties in well with the rehabilitation of this large harbour area which is currently being managed by the Grand Harbour Regeneration Corporation (GHRC), as well as the National Yachting Policy which is currently being drawn up together with all stakeholders involved,”  Farrugia said.

On his part, Minister Clifton Grima stated that, “the ministry and SportMalta are always seeking to find means and opportunities to support our sportsmen.

“The initiative we are launching is one of the various projects that are currently ongoing, in this case we are giving our support to sportsmen and a sports discipline that has registered great progress in these last years.

“I hope that through this initiative we will record more successes both on a personal basis for the sportsmen involved as well as on a national scale.”

Yachting Malta CEO Michael Mifsud said: “This was a dream of Yachting Malta to spearhead a project whereby Malta will have its own Offshore Sailing Project, to compete in the international offshore circuit. We firmly believe that this project stands to promote Malta as a centre of excellence in yachting.”

On his part, Mark Cutajar, SportMalta CEO, said that this initiative will attract more youngsters to the sport.

“Today, we will have the passage of transfer from Yachting Malta to Sport Malta so that the entity passes Viva Malta to Malta Sailing Federation.

“Through this initiative more young people continue to approach the sport of sailing which has always been synonymous with us Maltese through the Rolex Middle Sea Race and other various competitions.”