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On this day in 2005: Ellen MacArthur smashes round the world sailing record

Macarthur completed her solo voyage in 71 days, 14 hours, 18 minutes and 33 seconds on february 7, 2005., article bookmarked.

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Yachtswoman Dame Ellen MacArthur smashed the record for the fastest single-handed circumnavigation of the globe 18 years ago.

MacArthur, then 28, completed her 27,354-mile odyssey in 71 days, 14 hours, 18 minutes and 33 seconds on February 7, 2005.

With an average speed on the water of 15.9 knots, she beat the previous record set by Frenchman Francis Joyon by more than a day.

It was an astounding achievement given that many in sailing had predicted Joyon’s mark, set only in 2004, would last many years. Joyon had taken more than 20 days off the previous record in completing his journey in 72 days, 22 hours, 54 minutes and 22 seconds.

MacArthur, from Cowes on the Isle of Wight, set out on November 28, 2004 in her 75ft trimaran called B&Q/Castorama. She crossed the finish line off Ushant, France , at 10.25pm on February 7.

During an incident-packed voyage she narrowly avoided colliding with a whale, suffered burns to her arm and was battered and bruised after climbing the 90ft mast to carry out repairs.

She also had to battle gales and icebergs in the Southern Ocean , deal with light winds in the Atlantic and cope with a host of other technical problems.

Despite that, she managed to stay ahead of Joyon’s time for the vast majority of her adventure. She also collected another five records on the way, beating Joyon’s time to the Equator, the Cape of Good Hope, Cape Leeuwin in Australia, Cape Horn and back to the Equator.

“I am elated, I am absolutely drained, it has been a very tough trip,” MacArthur said. “When I crossed the line I felt like collapsing on the floor and just falling asleep. I was absolutely over the moon.”

MacArthur, originally from Derbyshire , was given a Damehood soon after her completing her quest.

Her record stood for almost three years before being reclaimed by Joyon. He took another 14 days off the time, finishing in 57 days, 13 hours and 34 minutes.

The record is currently held by another Frenchman, Francois Gabart, who completed the journey in 42 days, 16 hours, 40 minutes and 35 seconds in December 2017.

MacArthur, who still holds the record for the fastest woman to sail solo around the world, retired in 2010 and set up the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, which campaigns for a circular economy to eliminate waste and pollution.

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Ellen MacArthur (Dame)

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Record Breaking Yachtswoman

Dame Ellen MacArthur is a Record-Breaking Yachtswoman.

Dame Ellen’s fascination with sailing started at just 4 when she began sailing with her aunt.

While at school, Ellen started saving her dinner money to hopefully one day buy a boat. At 13, she purchased her first boat/dinghy, ‘ Threepenny Bit ‘.

At the exceptionally young age of 18, Ellen achieved her RYA Yachtmaster and Instructor’s Ticket.

Ellen’s record-breaking career soon followed when she single-handedly sailed around Britain in her ‘ Iduna’ boat. This achievement earned her the BT/JYA Young Sailor of the Year title.

Despite such promise, Ellen found it hard to attract sponsorship to take her career to the next stage. Out of 2,500 letters to potential sponsors, she received just two replies.

Eventually, Ellen raised enough money to buy a used 21ft Classe Mini.

She refitted the boat and raced it solo across the Atlantic in the 1997 Mini Transat Race , completing the 2,700-mile journey in 33 days.

This achievement brought sponsorship from the retail group Kingfisher. This funded her move to an Open 50 yacht, which she entered in the gruelling 1998 Route Du Rhum Race .

Ellen’s strong effort saw her finish first in her class and fifth overall. This led to her being named BT/JYA Yachtsman of the Year in the UK and Sailing’s Young Hope in France.

As a result, Kingfisher backed Ellen to the tune of £2 million to enter the 2000/01 Vendee Globe with a brand new Open 60 boat named ‘ Kingfisher ‘.

Those who had predicted that the 5ft slip of a girl would struggle against muscular male opponents were silenced as Ellen finished the challenge ahead of all of her male counterparts, bar one – making Ellen the fastest female and youngest sailor to race around the world solo, nonstop .

Dame Ellen MacArthur – Sailing Legend

Her achievements as a record-breaking yachtswoman led to being nominated in the BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2001.

In November 2002, she tackled the gruelling Route du Rhum again, finishing first and breaking several records. She was the first woman to sail to victory in the race and captained the first monohull to cross the line, smashing the course record.

In 2003, she captained a round-the-world record attempt for a crewed yacht in ‘ Kingfisher 2 ‘. Unfortunately, she had a setback by a broken mast in the Southern Ocean, 2000 miles from the coast of Australia.

In January 2004, her new yacht, ‘ B&Q/Castorama ‘ was unveiled. Nigel Irens and Benoit Cabaret designed this superyacht to help Ellen break solo records. The 75-foot trimaran was built in Australia, with many of the components specifically arranged to consider MacArthur’s 5’2” height.

In June 2004, Ellen sailed the ‘B&Q/Castorama’ from New York Bay to Lizard Point, Cornwall, in 7 days, 3 hours, 49 minutes, 57 seconds.

This set a new world record for a transatlantic crossing by women. Remarkably, Ellen beat the previous crewed record and the single-handed version.

Sailing Non-Stop Around The World

On 28th November 2004, Ellen began her attempt to break the solo record for sailing non-stop around the world.

During her circumnavigation, she set records for the fastest solo voyage to the equator, past the Cape of Good Hope, past Cape Horn, and back to the equator again. She crossed the finishing line near the French coast at Ushant at 22:29 UTC on February 7th, 2005, beating the previous record set by French sailor Francis Joyon by 1 day, 8 hours, 35 minutes, and 49 seconds.

On her return to England on February 8th, 2005, it was announced that she was to be made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in recognition of her achievement, becoming, it is believed, the youngest-ever recipient of this honour.

Dame Ellen MacArthur Motivational Speaker

Known for her steely ambition, professionalism and unfaltering determination to succeed, Ellen’s story is not just about sailing but one of human endeavour. Her innovative thinking, goals, and success in overcoming countless challenges inspire audiences to make their innermost dreams come true!

Delivered as a fireside chat, Dame Ellen MacArthur inspires, motivates, breaks down barriers and encourages the audience to achieve their goals with her stories of living the dream, overcoming incredible difficulties, digging deep into her emotional reserves, and finally achieving the impossible.

Ellen MacArthur Foundation Circular Economy

The Ellen MacArthur Foundation was established in 2010 to accelerate the transition to the circular economy.

Since its creation, the charity has emerged as a global thought leader. As a result, they have established the circular economy on the agenda of decision-makers across business, government, and academia.

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Keynote Speaker Ellen MacArthur

Record-breaking yachtswoman and champion of circular economy.

Dame Ellen MacArthur made yachting history in 2005 when she became the fastest solo sailor to circumnavigate the globe. She remains the UK’s most successful offshore racer, having won the Ostar, the Route du Rhum, and finished second in the Vendée Globe. She received the French Legion of Honour from... Read More

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Dame Ellen MacArthur made yachting history in 2005 when she became the fastest solo sailor to circumnavigate the globe. She remains the UK’s most successful offshore racer, having won the Ostar, the Route du Rhum, and finished second in the Vendée Globe. She received the French Legion of Honour from President Nicolas Sarkozy in 2008, three years after having been knighted by HM Queen Elizabeth II.

Having become acutely aware of the finite nature of the resources on which our linear economy relies, she retired from professional sailing to launch the Ellen MacArthur Foundation in 2010. The Foundation works to accelerate the transition to a circular economy, establishing the concept on the agenda of decision makers around the world. Since the publication of its first economic report in 2012, the Foundation has launched global initiatives on plastics, fashion, food and finance, developed innovation networks with educators, businesses, cities and governments, and published more than 20 reports and books.

Dame Ellen MacArthur is a World Economic Forum Global Agenda Trustee for Environment and Natural Resource Security and board member of its Platform for Accelerating the Circular Economy and she sat on the European Commission’s Resource Efficiency Platform between 2012 and 2014.

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What Sailing The World Taught This Record-Breaking Yachtswoman

Associate Editor, What's Working, The Huffington Post

Dame Ellen MacArthur has seen a fair amount of the world. She's circumnavigated it in her yacht -- in record speed -- twice.

It was in her boat, completely alone and with just the supplies she packed for her journey, that she first thought about scarcity, she told The Huffington Post's Jo Confino , at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

"Suddenly, when I set foot off the boat at the finish line of the round-the-world record in 2005, I began to realize our global economy also had finite resources," she said.

That notion stuck at the back of her mind, and when she retired from sailing in 2009, it motivated her leap from the world of sailing to that of economics. She founded the Ellen MacArthur Foundation in 2010 to accelerate the world's transition into a " circular economy ," one that produces no waste or pollution.

She told Confino, "Since I was 4, I was always fascinated by a goal: to sail around the world. For the global economy, what's the goal?"

She wanted to rectify the lack of a long-term strategy in global business, which, according to her, seeming interested only in "buying time" against the fact of finite resources.

Although MacArthur had little business experience beyond her corporate sponsorships for sailing, she took issue with the myopic business focus on efficiency and bottom lines. With her knowledge of scarcity from her time at sea, she found the "linear" relationship of businesses and resources to be problematic.

MacArthur offers the circular economy model as an alternative to the status quo. "Looking at [concepts like] industrial symbiosis , biomimicry , sharing economy , suddenly you start to see a different economy panning out," she said.

Even though she doesn't have a traditional business background, MacArthur thinks it's critical to reimagine the current, unsustainable system. If resources are finite, she says, you can't just keep going until they run out.

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"We want something that is restorative and regenerative, a business model that can bring resilience to the business rather than have it exposed to more volatile prices," MacArthur said.

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The Secret To Ending Plastic Waste And Its Devastating Impacts

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13 Top female sailors

Here's our pick of some of the most inspiring yachtswomen. Who's your inspiration?

These 13 women have all achieved excellence as sailors, accomplishing astonishing feats of bravery, stamina and skill at the helm.

From single-handed circumnavigations of the globe to Olympic gold medals, these are some of our favourite female trailblazers in the world of sailing. Who would you add to the list of top female sailors? Tweet us on @ybw

Dame Ellen MacArthur “Courage is not having the energy to go on, it’s going on when you do not have the energy.”

Dame Ellen MacArthur broke the world record for the fastest solo circumnavigation of the globe, completing the 27,354 nautical mile trip in 71 days, 14 hours, 18 minutes and 33 seconds. She beat the previous record by one day, eight hours, 35 minutes and 49 seconds.

The retired British sailor loved life on the water from a young age and has previously competed in the Mini Transat solo transatlantic race and the Vendee Globe solo round-the-world sailing race.

Since then, Ellen has launched two charities, the Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation .

Follow EllenMacArthur on Twitter

Shirley Robertson, MBE and OBE

This Scottish sailor made it into the history books when she became the first British woman to win two Olympic gold medals at two consecutive Olympic games, Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004 competing in the Yngling class. She went on to be named female World Sailor of the Year by the International Sailing Federation and was awarded an MBE in 2000 and an OBE in 2005.

Shirley worked hard to raise the profile of the sport, presenting and producing CNN’s Mainsail programme and as a BBC Olympic sailing commentator in Weymouth during the London 2012 Olympics. She is also the only woman to take the helm on the superyacht circuit steering the stunning 45-metre Salperton in three regattas in the Caribbean and Sardina.

Follow Shirley on Twitter

Dame Naomi James “What I did was completely different. Ellen is a professional racer; I was an adventurer.”

Dame Naomi James was the first woman to sail single-handed around the world via Cape Horn. She left Dartmouth in Devon on 9 September 1977 and returned 272 days later on 8 June 1978.

New Zealand-born Naomi was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1979 in recognition of her achievements.

Crazy voyages: sailors who took to the sea without any sailing experience

Tracy Edwards

Credit: Tanya Visser/PPL

Tracy Edwards , MBE, entered her first Whitbread Round the World race at the age of 23. She made history by leading the first all-female crew to the finish line of the Whitbread Round the World Race on board Maiden in the 89-90 race. Her 12 crew won two legs and finished second in its class, the best performances in the race by a British boat since 1977. Edwards is currently busy restoring her beloved Maiden to her former glory.

Tracy Edwards’ iconic yacht Maiden is coming home

Clare Francis

Clare Francis, MBE, was working in marketing when she decided to sail singlehandedly across the Atlantic in 1973.  A year later she took part in the Round Britain Race with Eve Bonham, finishing in third place. The high achiever went on to be the first woman to skipper a yacht in the 1977-1978 Whitbread Round the World Race. She and her Swan 65 finished in 5th place. To add to her impressive achievements, the former yachtswoman is now an international bestselling author with 12 fiction novels under her belt and four non fiction. She is also a trustee of the charity Action for M.E., which raises money and awareness for sufferers of chronic fatigue syndrome.

Laura Dekker “There were moments where I was like, ‘What the hell am I doing out here?,’ but I never wanted to stop.”

At the age of 13, Laura Dekker announced she wanted to become the youngest person to circumnavigate the globe single-handedly, prompting the Guinness World Records to stop recognising records for “youngest” sailors.

The Dutch authorities objected to her plans and she fought a 10-month court battle to follow her dream. She eventually persuaded judges to allow her departure after agreeing to upgrade to a bigger boat with better navigation equipment, undertake training in first aid and learn how to cope with sleep deprivation.

In August 2010, she set sail on her epic journey onboard her two-masted ketch and arrived, 5,600 nautical miles later, at Simpson Bay on St Maarten in January 2012 – breaking the world record. She was only 16 years and four months of age.

Jeanne Socrates “I’m not really an armchair and slippers person.”

In 2013, British sailor Jeanne Socrates became the oldest woman to sail solo round the world non-stop. This was the 70-year-old’s third attempt to complete the 25,000-mile circumnavigation on her 38ft yacht Nereida.

After 259 days at sea, Jeanne returned triumphant back to British shores. Earlier this year she was awarded with the Cruising Club of America’s Blue Water Medal following her successful voyage.

Read Jeanne Socrate’s blog

Pippa Wilson, MBE

Pippa Wilson continues to be one of the UK’s best female sailors. She won a gold medal in the Yngling sailing class at the 2008 Beijing Olympics along with Sarah Webb and Sarah Ayton, gold in two World Championships and gold in one European Championships.

Follow Pippa on Twitter

Sarah Ayton, OBE

Olympic gold medallist Sarah Ayton is another of the UK’s most successful British female sailors. With two Olympic gold medals under her belt, along with two gold World Championship medals and one gold European Championship medal.

Sarah won an Olympic gold medal alongside Shirley Robertson and Sarah Gosling in the Yngling sailing class in 2004, and again in 2008 with Pippa Wilson and Sarah Gosling.

Follow Sarah on Twitter

Sarah Gosling, OBE

This Olympian is another of Britain’s great female sailors, having won two Olympic gold medals, two gold World Championship medals and one gold European Championship medal.

Sarah won all her medals in the Yngling sailing class alongside Shirley Robertson, Pippa Wilson and Sarah Ayton. Already an MBE, Sarah was awarded an OBE in the 2009 New Year Honours list.

Denise “Dee” Caffari, MBE

Record-setting Dee Caffari came to sailing relatively late after spending five years as a physical education teacher. In 2006, Caffari became the first woman to single-handedly circumnavigate the globe against prevailing winds and currents after 178 days at sea, having started in late 2005.

Just under three years later, in February 2009, Dee Caffari completed the Vendee Globe race, setting a new record and becoming the first woman to sail around the world in both directions.

Follow Dee on Twitter

Kay Cottee, AO 

Awarded the Order of Australia, Cottee was the first woman to successfully complete a solo, non-stop, unassisted circumnavigation of the globe. Cottee achieved the feat in 1988 in her 11m yacht Blackmores First Lady, and she did it in just 189 days.

Cottee established the trip that is routinely tried by sailors chasing speed records and completed it alone, without stopping and without assistance. She was even washed overboard when her yacht capsized in 20 foot waves. Her achievement is as impressive as it is daunting to imagine, and fortunately she didn’t celebrate the achievement alone: nearly 100,000 Australians were awaiting her in Sydney Harbour when she returned.

Krystyna Chojnowska-Liskiewicz

And last, but certainly not least, the first woman to circumnavigate the globe is also a sea captain and shipbuilding engineer. Krystyna Chojnowska-Liskiewicz set off on February 28, 1976 from the Canary Islands on her own in her 10m yacht Mazurek, returning 401 days later on April 21, 1978.

The Polish sailor has been called the “First Lady of the Oceans” and was inducted into the elite Explorers Club in New York. She narrowly beat New Zealander Naomi James (above) who completed her own circumnavigation on June 8, 1978.

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Against the Flow: The inspiring story of a teacher turned record-breaking yachtswoman First UK. Edition

• ISBN-10 0713685336
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• Edition First UK.
• Publisher Adlard Coles
• Publication date September 3, 2007
• Language English
• Dimensions 6 x 1 x 9 inches
• Print length 208 pages
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About the author, product details.

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Adlard Coles; First UK. edition (September 3, 2007)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 208 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0713685336
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0713685336
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 13.1 ounces
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 1 x 9 inches
• #276 in Sailing Excursion Guides
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We are sailing: Trip of a lifetime for youngsters in care

Record-breaking yachtswoman Nikki Henderson has been named as an ambassador for Care to Sail.

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A record-breaking yachtswoman has teamed up with a Scottish organisation to offer young people in care or those who are care experienced the chance to sail around the world.

Nikki Henderson, who at 25 was the youngest ever skipper to lead a team in the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race, has been named as an ambassador for Care to Sail.

The not-for-profit organisation – which takes young people in care and transforms their health and wellbeing through sailing – has launched a challenge to train 12 people aged between 16 and 25 to navigate and crew an ocean-racing yacht.

The team will then take part in an epic 40,000 nautical-mile around the world adventure, scheduled to set sail in March 2022, with the support of an experienced skipper and minimal crew.

The youngsters will spend one year at sea and will visit countries including Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and South America, linking up with other organisations that also support young people in care.

Henderson, who last year sailed Greta Thunberg across the Atlantic, will be one of the experts who will lead and deliver the training, as well mentor the young people taking part.

The 27-year-old said: “Care to Sail is a fantastic and bold initiative.

“Sailing is a huge passion of mine and something I was fortunate to get involved with at a young age. 

“Hopefully through the Care to Sail ambassador programme, we can help inspire a new generation of young sailors.

“A trip like this across the ocean and around the world builds character and creates bonds with the crew you spend your time with. 

“It can be very challenging out there at sea, especially when the weather isn’t in your favour, but it can also be extremely rewarding and really help you prove to yourself just how resilient and resourceful you can be.”

Care to Sail was founded by Declan Cox in 2019, who entered the care system himself at a very young age. Those years in care left him suicidal until he discovered sailing.

He said: “Nikki is an inspirational role model and incredibly experienced sailor. 

“We hope that her ambassadorship will have a major influence, inspiring and encouraging our young people and staff to engage with mentoring, as well as demonstrating obtainable goals and broadening their perspectives.

“At Care to Sail we believe that support and collaboration is essential. From my own experience, I know that young people in care don’t often have positive role models. We aim to build a structure of mentors, role models and ambassadors as a key element of the project.”

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Woman sets record as oldest person to sail solo around the world

Jeanne Socrates, 77, became the oldest solo round-the-world sailor.

This 77-year-old British yachtswoman broke a world record for oldest person to sail around the world from North America solo, nonstop and unassisted.

Jeanne Socrates arrived at Royal Victoria Yacht Club in Canada on Saturday afternoon flying an orange sail aboard the SV Nereida after just under a year at sea since she departed on Oct. 3, 2018.

The yacht club shared photos and videos of Socrates sailing into port with a flotilla of other boats anxiously waiting in the breakwater and harbor as her solo circumnavigation came to a close.

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During a previous attempt at the same record in 2017, Socrates was forced to stop after she broke her neck and ribs, she explained on her website .

Socrates, who is from Lymington in Hampshire, documented her months-long journey on a blog that included photos, articles and a Google Earth map that tracked her progress during the voyage.

Charlotte Kaufman, founder of Women Who Sail, the largest online group of women sailors in the world, hailed Socrates' accomplishements.

"I'm honored to know a lot of record-breaking sailors and women accomplishing amazing things on the water," she told ABC News. "Women's achievements both in the sport and in the industry have truly reached a tipping point in world records and accomplishments," Kaufman added.

The previous record was held by Minoru Saito, who was 71 when he completed the journey in 2005, according to the Royal Victoria Yacht Club.

Socrates' 38-foot boat was named after the Nereids, handmaidens of Poseidon, of ancient Greek mythology, according to her blog.

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Socrates did not immediately respond to ABC News' request for comment.

The seasoned sailor, who has previously completed other solo travels, was officially recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the oldest woman to sail solo, nonstop and unassisted around the world in 2013.

"In addition to Jeanne's world record, we have the first woman to helm an America's Cup Boat (Carolijn Brouwer for Team Netherlands in 2021), the first woman and youngest person to enter the Golden Globe Race (Susie Goodall, 2018), and Lisa Blair [who] holds the records for first woman to sail solo, nonstop, unassisted around Australia (2018) and she's also the first woman to sail solo around Antarctica (2017)," Kaufman explained.

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I visited Astrakhan, the Russian MELTING POT of religions and ETHNICITIES (PHOTOS)

When we entered the ATR-72 twin engine turboprop aircraft for our evening flight from Sochi to Astrakhan, my friend Olga and I were a bit surprised to see the ethnic mix of passengers on board. Nordic, Southern European, Caucasian, Central Asian, West Asian and “typical Russian” features were all visible on the two-hour flight to the city by the Volga. As we were to find out over the next three days, Astrakhan, which has a population of 526,000, is home to members of 104 of Russia’s 120 ethnicities. 

Ajay and his friend Olga on a cold morning

The small airport is just a 15-minute drive away from the city center and we were lucky to find an apartment in a well maintained Stalin-era building literally across the street from the Astrakhan kremlin.  

Walk around the city at night  

Our first task was to try out the much-hyped Caspian cuisine of the city.  Although it was only 9:30 pm on a Friday, the beautifully landscaped area that is near Lenin Square and borders the Kremlin was almost empty. Tastefully lit, the area had a distinct Mediterranean feel. With a bearable cold breeze and crystal clear air, I found the surroundings to be romantic, but my travel partner said she had an eerie feeling, since we hadn’t seen any others in the street. 

As we walked towards the riverside, we found our first Caspian-themed restaurant. Olga managed to calm down over a bottle of white wine and some local delicacies, such as sturgeon from the Volga Delta and ukha , which many restaurants label as the Tsar’s fish soup in their English menus.  

Astrakhan at night

The main activity at night in Astrakhan revolves around the streets leading to the Volga riverfront. This is where the youth of the city go clubbing or bar hopping. There were signs of nightlife in this stretch of the city, but we had seen far bigger crowds in much smaller Russian cities. Locals later told us that they took the pandemic more seriously than their counterparts in other parts of the country and, hence, there were so few people on the streets. 

Feel the diversity on display at the Kremlin 

On my first morning in the city, I set off on an exploratory run and was absolutely impressed with the city center. The square that was empty the previous night was a hub of exercise and sporting activity. Under clear blue skies and warm sun, I saw well-looked after flower beds and trees that had leaves of every fall color. The season of colors had come and gone from the northern parts of Russia in a hurry in 2021, but Astrakhan was still in mid-fall mode in November.  

Church in the Astrakhan kremlin

Later that morning, we decided to explore the impressive white Kremlin that towers over the city center. Standing on the Zayachy Hill, this massive fortress was originally built in the late 16th century and has been modified a few times since. Entry to the Kremlin, which opens at 7 am, is free and there are stalls where you can buy local handicrafts. I couldn’t resist buying a handcrafted wooden fridge magnet with an engraved image of this ancient fortress.  

The Kremlin is a great place to just roam around or sit on a bench and enjoy the great historical ambience, like many locals do, but we wanted to know more about this fascinating and well-preserved monument. So, we took a guided tour of the complex - in a golf cart! The modern-day Astrakhan Region was contested between various groups and empires until the middle of the 16th century, when it became a part of the southward-expanding Russian Empire. A knowledgeable guide shared many historical facts about the Kremlin and the city with us. 

After our tour, we were in for an unexpected audio visual treat. As the sun fought the grey fall clouds and warmed up the temperature to 18°C and the bells tolled from the Assumption Cathedral, a group of teenagers in various ethnic costumes came to the area near the church. Over the next 20 minutes, the colorful group performed a series of dances that reflected the cultures of various ethnic groups who call Astrakhan home.  

Astrakhan's Assumption Cathedral

We first saw a Russian folk dance, followed by a Tatar dance and then a performance of the indigenous peoples who inhabit Astrakhan Region. We were lucky to be in the Kremlin on the day the city was marking Russian National Unity Day . 

This ethnic diversity can be seen everywhere in Astrakhan, but nowhere it is more visible than in restaurants and bars, where you see groups of people from different backgrounds socialising and making merry.  

Ajay at the Astrakhan kremlin

Astrakhan is also known for its religious diversity. We went to two recently-renovated mosques that are just outside the historic city center. Non-Muslims are allowed to visit at non-prayer times. There seemed to be a strong Persian influence in the interior of these mosques, which is not surprising, given the fact that Iran is just across the Caspian Sea. The city also has an Iranian consulate and a Russian-Iranian banking joint venture. Some of the stores in the city sell imported Iranian candy. 

During our three-day stay in the city, we had a chance to get acquainted with people from Dagestan, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan. For those from other Caspian states, Astrakhan is seen as a logical entry point to Russia. In fact, several students from former Soviet countries study in the city.  

Enjoy the unique architecture  

The most interesting feature of Astrakhan is that no two streets in the historic center seem to resemble each other. A street full of early 1900s brownish-red brick structures is cut in half by a thoroughfare that has buildings that are a mix of Art Nouveau, Renaissance and Classicist architecture! Similarly, a walk by the outer walls of the 16th century Kremlin offers views of 19th century buildings that seem to have been transplanted from St. Petersburg.  

Tastefully restored building in Astrakhan

Long-term residents say many of the heritage structures in the city were in a state of disrepair, until a decade ago, when Russian President Vladimir Putin took a personal interest in reviving the city, given its strategic location close to the Caspian Sea.  

The victory of the Soviet Union in the Battle of Stalingrad and the resulting halt of German troops advances into southern Russia helped save the older buildings of Astrakhan during World War II. The radius around the Kremlin and riverfront are European in character, but once you cross the canal, a totally different side of the city opens up. These areas have ethnic Persian and Tatar localities, locally known as ‘sloboda’. One gets a feeling of crossing over into an altogether different century when strolling past these areas with their wooden cottages and cosy courtyards.  

While there is a strong sense of community here, the area is lower middle class and, unfortunately, did not seem to have any ethnic Tatar or Persian-style cafes. We were told that the best place to sample this kind of food was the Tatar Bazar, which we could not visit. Locals in these ethnic enclaves apparently preferred to either cook at home or eat at food courts in shopping malls.  

A wooden house outside the center (L); One of Astrakhan's older churches

The classical Russian neighbourhoods in Astrakhan have a wide array of dining options, including an elegant restaurant named ‘Onegin’ (named after Alexander Pushkin’s famous novel in verse ‘Eugene Onegin’), which has 19th century style interiors, chandeliers, paintings of the greats of Russian literature and plays the music of Russian composers Rachmaninoff and Tchaikovsky. Plenty of other restaurants are themed around the Caspian Sea.  

Spend an evening by the Volga 

It goes without saying that the best place to spend an evening in the city is the riverside promenade. Runners, bicyclists, families, university students and pensioners all converge on this stretch in the early evening, as another day heads off into the night.  

The small islands that are visible from the promenade are home to a variety of birds that rush to find shelter in the trees before nightfall. As the river runs south towards the Caspian, nature is absolutely breathtaking. Visitors to Astrakhan in the warmer months often head to the Volga Delta, which is a biodiversity hotspot and home to various species of flora and fauna.   

We made it a point to catch the sunset by the Volga twice during our brief visit. Few experiences in Russia compare with seeing the red sun set behind the country’s most iconic river. The ensuing twilight paints the skies of Astrakhan with a unique shade of crimson.  

Astrakhan with Olga

Standing by the riverfront on my last evening in the city, my gaze went to the left, where some 100 kilometers south the great Volga empties into the Caspian Sea. This area has always been a major transit point connecting north and south, east and west. For several hundred years, it was the intersection of the east-west trade route north of the Caspian Sea and the north-south trade route down the Volga to Persia. I couldn’t help but think how the city had the potential to become a major business, logistics and tourism hub, if Russia, India, Iran and the Caspian littoral countries put a fresh impetus on developing the International North-South Corridor.   

Astrakhan, as it is, is still a special place where several cultures meet and blend. As a melting pot of religions and ethnicities, no city in Russia (outside of Moscow) represents the sheer diversity of this colossally large country as well as Astrakhan. The city’s communal harmony and amity set an example for many other parts of the world that are struggling to deal with the close interaction of various ethnic groups. 

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