(Konakovo (Moscow), Russia)- Following a similar competition format that
has gained popularity in continental Europe, the Russian Sailing
Federation has embarked on one of its most ambitious sailing projects
ever- the creation of the Russian National Sailing League using a fleet
of J/70s. The goal is to assemble the yacht clubs and sailing clubs
from around Russia and C.I.S. countries and provide them a new impetus
for development of sailing- from youth to adult sailing programs! For
2015, the Russian Sailing League will have five regattas during the
sailing season in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Konakovo, Minsk and Sochi.
As
part of sailing development within Russia, the SAILING Champions League
has invited Russia to enter two teams for their event hosted on October
17th to 19th in Copenhagen, Denmark and being sailed in a fleet of 12
J/70s. 24 yacht club teams are invited and the Russian Sailing
Federation will soon introduce the sailing team members that will defend
the honor of Russia in this prestigious sailing competition.The first stage of the Russian Sailing League was held September 19th to 21st at the YC Konakovo River Club. Ten teams were invited from across Russia and Belarus to sail on the seven J/70s. The event was broadcast “live” on the Russian Federations website and the on-line TV sports channel (see http://www.sportparad.ru).
The sailors enjoyed a beautiful, cool weekend with relatively lights airs, peaking at 8 kts from the southerly quadrants. The Upper Volga River is northwest of downtown Moscow and the YC KRC provided first-class facilities and a terrific onshore viewing point for all teams and spectators— true “stadium-style” sailing in challenging, shifty breezes.
For
the first day of racing, the wind started light, but built into an 8
kts breeze, making for some entertaining, dynamic racing that also
produced a number of protests, general recalls and somewhat overly
excited skippers and crews. Close racing it was for all and lots of fun
for spectators ashore to watch unfold at every mark rounding. After
every two races, the crews rotated ashore and after a quick practice for
any team that had yet to sail, the races commenced again. At the end
of the day, 7 of the 10 scheduled races were completed. As a result, the
fleet was split into a “Gold” and “Silver” divisions. Qualifying for
the Gold fleet were Yacht Russia Sailing Academy (Michael Senators),
RUS-7 (Kirill Podolsky). PIRogovo (Artem Kuznetsov), Konakovo (Ivan
Hinds), and SportFlot (Victor Bukin). The balance of the fleet that
sailed in Silver were Teams SportTseh (Andrei Nikolayev), WFTU (Vladimir
Silkin), Izobud (Sergey Kravtsov), YC St. Petersburg (Marina
Larenkova), and Friendship Team (Valeryi Naskin).After an intensive day of sailing on Sunday, marked by many close starts and even tighter mark-roundings, it was Michael Senators’ Yacht Russia Sailing Academy drawing “first blood” and taking the inaugural win in the Russian Sailing League. Second was Kuznetsov’s crew sailing PIRogovo and third was Bukin’s crew sailing for the SportFlot Team.
The
J/70 league is a very innovative project for the Russian Yachting
Federation; one of the features was the improvement of technologies,
providing integrated TV-production and the use of a GPS-tracking system
for better describing the sport of sailing and educating the spectators
about the regatta. In fact, for the first time in the history of
Russian sailing, all races for the regatta were broadcast online on the YouTube Russian Sailing Federation channel and on the website of the Federation. GPS-tracking (http://tractrac.com)
worked in all the races of the regatta, providing a computer image with
position and velocity of each yacht, providing information on the race
course for the commentator and the fans.Furthermore, after the race a record of all races permitted the sailors to return to the material and analyze how they performed. Photo and video shooting was done on the water and onshore, as well as using “drone helicopters” and cameras mounted on each boat. Such “live” coverage enabled viewers from across Russia to watch the action on their computers, tablets and smartphones, monitor developments on the water and cheer for their favorite team! All broadcasts were also conducted online by the League’s information partner, the Russian sports portal- sportparad.ru.
"The first stage of the Russian National Sailing League, I am very pleased to note, was in fact a tremendous success,” said the President of the Russian Yachting Federation, Vladimir Silkin.
He continues to explain, “All racing days had “live” online
broadcasting, and we tried to sail the event so that all the fans
received the latest information on the progress of the League. I want to
thank the teams that took part in the regatta and, in spite of the
light to moderate winds, showed real sportsmanship and tremendous
competitiveness. It was spectacular, interesting and memorable. I am
sure that the next sailing season, during which we plan to host 5 to 6
stages, will bring sailing regattas to our excellent sports community in
Russia— it will be an interesting broadcast for our audience!” In
fact, the first stage of the league drew the attention of the general
public across Russia; it was widely reported in the media and social
networks. The Russian Yachting Federation has attracted the participation of partners who provided prizes for the top three teams. Gift sponsors of the first stage included Vneshtreydservis and Villagio Estate, as well as the internationally renowned brands Lancaster and Calvin Klein. Thanks for the story contribution (and sailing photo credits) from Catherine Zilina. For J/70 Racing/ tracking replays. For more J/70 Russian Sailing League information.
J/70 Russian Sailing League YouTube videos:
Summary/ Intro- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPfHKm746XU
Day One- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bti2kAl5C20
Day Two- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ocm3FwBzcAw
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