Russian National Championship in J/80s

"The Russians Are Coming, Hang On To Your Hats!"
(Lanzarote, Canary Islands)- Yes, the Russians are coming!  And, they're learning fast and having fun.  Taking a few pages out of top European and American "play books" on how to sail fast, the Russian Sailing Federation is ramping up their sailing programs step-by-step.  You've seen a few shining lights in that effort already, like the SYNERGY Sailing Team and some others on the WMRT Match Race Circuit- like world #8 Evgeny Neugodnikov on the Men's Tour and Women's Tour #6 Ekaterina Skudina- who was once again announced to be the Russian Yachtswoman of the Year for 2010 (picture below).

Last November, the Russian Yachting Federation, coordinating with the Spanish J/80 Teams, started the first National Sailing Championship of Russia using the J-80 fleet at Lanzarote, Canary Islands.  Many teams showed up before the opening day to get a "feel" for the local waters and the boats.  In fact, for this first event 14 teams participated from all across Russia- including St.-Petersburg, Moscow, Perm, Kemerovo, Voronezh, Novosibirsk, Taganrog and so forth.

Oscar Konuhov, the executive director of All-Russian Sailing Federation, said "The idea to unite professional sportsmen and amateurs into a national regatta managed by the All-Russian Sailing Federation and its partners means we can have great competition for participants in Russia. The distinctive feature of Lanzarote here in the Canary Islands is constant presence of wind. If we add fantastic local landscapes and perfectly equipped marina and excellent boats like the International J/80 class, we can say with confidence that the initiative of holding the competition here is doomed to success."  With a big smile on his face, he added, "I'm coming back next time for sure!"

Boris Boltyansky, the representative of Russian Business Regatta organizing committee commented on the event, saying "I’m sure, the project will have a long life. It is great to prolong Russian yachtsman’s racing calendar and race in the Atlantic ocean on monotypes. We are glad to see here well-known sportsmen, members of the national team, as well as beginners. Surely, it will be interesting for everybody to compete.  There are a lot of famous competitors here-- Masters of Sports, yachtsmen of the Olympic level, members of professional racing teams, they are all ready to compete. But according to the regatta rules, there is a beginner or two in each crew, which means every one gets a chance to learn from some of the world's best sailors."

Roman Terekhov, skipper, Master of Sports in Russia said, "We have a real national team represented here from Russia: sailors from Kemerovo, St Petersburg, Moscow, Novosibirsk. We didn’t succeed in everything today, but we are trying hard. The boat is very good, the feelings are fantastic. I used to race on different quarter-tonner sailboats, but this sailing is worlds apart. The J/80 gathers momentum instantly, reacts to all the maneuvers quickly. The J/80 is amazing!"

Igor Cherepanov, Taganrog commented on the J/80, "From my first experience, I can say that the J/80 is well balanced and responsive. The sailing area is fantastic, the wind is regular and the current is slight. This water is known to be rough but we haven't faced it yet. Speaking about the contenders, you know, they are all dangerous competitors. They are rather serious: Georgiy Shaiduko, Sergey Borodinov, Sergey Shevtsov, Igor Lisovenko, Igor Skalin, Anna Basalkina, Kyril Podolsky, Sergey Dzhienbaev, Alexander Ezhkov and the others.

Anna Basalkina, sailing TEAM RUS-7 ACITER, commented on the event- "The decisive day of the Championship of Russia sailed in the J/80 class turned out to be one of the most psychologically difficult days of all. According to the results of the previous days at least four crews had a claim on a general victory and three of them had the equal points! For them the Championship of Russia seemed to begin from the very start. But there were only two starts remained and there may have been no time to correct the mistakes.

In fact, by the time the fleet got going out of Puerto Kalero Marina the weather had changed to the worse, so much so that everybody considered the races not to take place that day. Since the very morning the sky had been covered by clouds, later it was pouring and there was no wind. The crews took cover in small restaurants and cafes nearby.

After an hour the rain stopped and the wind started to gain in strength quickly. Time to go racing! Two races were to be held on the last day. The distance of the first one almost completely repeated yesterday's windward-leewards and the favourites reached positive results. After my first place finish and the second for Georgiy Shajduko, other participants seemed to give up. But, before the start of the second race the wind, as it had often happened here earlier, changed direction approximately 20 degrees. As a result, the lay lines passed too close to fishing nets and oyster beds marked by buoys. It caused some excitement for sure!"

In the end, Sergey Tarakanov and his team were victorious, beating everyone on the last race and last leg! Just one point back in second was the crew from PIROGOVO. Memories of their surprising victory in yesterday's coastal race are still fresh and again good luck was on their side. One point further back in third was Anna Basalkina on RUS7-ACITER. Georgiy Shajduko's team won the 4th place.

At the awards ceremony, it was announced the 2011 Championship of Russia will again be sailed in the J/80 class in November, 2011. Lanzarote is looking forward to hosting the Championship again. And, Puerto Kalero Marina will be supplying thirty (30) J/80s for the Russian teams!

According to one of the main sponsors, anywayanyday.com's Kyrill Podolsky, "I am satisfied with the way the competition was organized, the work of the referees and the coastal program. Surely not worse than the World championship in the TP52 class. As a whole the regatta has proved to be a success: great J/80 one-design fleet, day races in the ocean, interesting wind conditions and a great competition between these Russian yachtsmen. Anywayanyday.com is going to sponsor future events of this kind."

Anna Basalkina from the RUS7-ACITER team said, "I liked the Championship very much. Next year, I will come together with my family - a support team. I’m sure that everybody who had had an intention to come but couldn’t, I mean Rodion Luka, Edward Skornjakov and others – will take part in the championship next year.  We are already making plans now to be there!"   For more Russian Sailing Team information.