Tuesday, November 18, 2014

JAVASCRIPT Wins J/80 ANYWAYANYDAY Cup

J/80 AnyWayAnyDay Cup winner (Limassol, Cyprus)- For the first time, the AnyWayAnyDay Cup was held in Cyprus on 10 newly built J/80 yachts from 30th October to 4th of November.  With the support of the Russian Sailing Federation, the Cup attracted many famous Russian yachtsmen such as Igor Lisovenko (a two-time Russian Olympian), Vladimir Silkin (President of the Russian Yachting Federation) and Russian Olympic Gold Medallist at the Sydney Olympic Games- Evgeniy Braslavec.

The format for the regatta was mixed teams, in which professional yachtsmen shared their experiences with novices. The goal of the event was to show that every person can start sailing despite of their age and abilities!

J/80 Russian sailing team- off CyprusThe event was blessed with good weather conditions for most of the four-day regatta.  Strong and steady winds up to 20 knots provided a really exciting start of races on the first day. It was a sunny and warm afternoon that made possible the celebration of the opening ceremony outside on the roof of the restaurant at the newly built Limassol Marina.   There was lots of sun and shifty 15 kts winds on the second day, making for a challenging day of racing for most teams.

During the third regatta day, races were cancelled due to lack of the wind (1-2 knots) and a rainy morning.  As a result, all yachtsmen went for a trip to see sights around the island – the birthplace of the famous Greek goddess Aphrodite and the beautiful, picturesque mountains of Cyprus!

For the final day of the regatta, everyone was treated to magnificent weather! Lots of sunshine, moderate winds up to 9 knots made the final races both memorable and remarkable for some teams!

After all the festivities and fun-and-games, the racing was incredibly close for the top four in the regatta between JAVASCRIPT, JOKER, JIBBER and JAMESON. Only six points separated the teams after nine races and, in fact, going into the last race only first place was secure, but the balance of the podium hung in the balance.  In the end, it was the Olympic champion Evgenii Braslavec (skipper) on JAVASCRIPT that took the lead on the first day and won the first Anywayanyday Cup J/80 in Cyprus! Congratulations to Evgenii and crew of Timohov Sergey, Bolotnikov Vladimir, Petuhov Alexei, Myasnikov Sergey!

J/80 Russian women's team sailing off CyprusNot to be outdone, giving Braslavec a run-for-the-money on JOKER was the 2nd place team of Vladimir Silkin (skipper) - the President of the Russian Yachting Federation! Our congrats to “Vlad” and his team of Besputin Konstantin, Zaharov Petr, Sergeev Anton, Silkin Kirill!

Literally, just meters away from the 2nd place at the finish line and, having to settle for 3rd place, was the JIBBER team of Kirill Podolsky (skipper)! Congrats to Kirill and crew of Zelensky Vladimir, Lisovenko Igor (a two-time Olympic sailor), and Bozhko Alexandr!

The balance of the top five were in 4th place JAMESON (Alexander Generalov-skipper- with Sergey Shvecov, Nikolay Kovalenko) and in 5th place JAMES BOND (Anatolii Karachensky-skipper with Alexey Krilov, Vitalii Zubkov and Maxim Kuzmin).

There was a women team from the famous Russian newspaper “Vedomosti” - Elena Nikitina, Arina Chindina, Olga Oreshnikova, Anna Semenyk (seen here) with one “token” male aboard- Maxim Duunov.

The Closing Ceremony took place in the “Yacht Club” Restaurant in Limassol Marina where the Mayor of Limassol, Andreas Christou, came to congratulate the sailors of the J/80 Anywayanyday Cup Regatta.

“Cyprus is a perfect place for sailing– it is warm, most of the time steady winds, sunny, tasty and with great hospitality!  Also, I enjoyed sailing the chartered J/80 yachts– all new, all the same, under new sails,” says Anton Sergeev – a sailor on the JOKER Team that took 2nd place!

Michael Nicholas, the director of SailFirst Sailing Club and the host club of the event in Cyprus, said “A big thank you for all organizers of the regatta and sailors. We are proud to be a host club and partner for the J/80 Anywayanyday Cup Regatta”! Nicholas also thanked other partners, such as “Communications sponsors” LENTA.RU; Russian newspaper “VEDOMOSTI”; the “Educational sponsor” MOSCOW BUSINESS SCHOOL; and the main sponsor– AnyWayAnyDay Corporation.

For more J/80 AnyWayAnyDay Cup sailing information, please contact Anastasia Marinskaya- Tel- +(357) 96392768/ email- anastasia@sailfirst.com/ www.sailfirst.com