(Sochi, Russia)- Over the April 13th to 15th weekend, the second stage
of the Russian J/70 Sailing League took place in Sochi, Russia, racing
just offshore on the rough and tumble Black Sea for the twenty-seven
teams participating in the regatta. In the end, another new leader
emerged from the ranks of Russia’s top sailors- Maxim Taranov’s team on
CALIPSO from Tuapse, Russia.
Day One- FridayOn the first day of competition, fifteen races were held. Each of the teams sailed five races, with several unexpected, if not sensational, outcomes in the standings!
Topping the leaderboard with 8 points was the BLACK SEA Team with skipper Oleg Kuzmin from the host city- Sochi. Then, 2nd and 3rd place was surprisingly shared by KONAKOVO RIVER CLUB’s Dmitry Shunin from Moscow and LEVIATHAN’s Vadim Yahinson from St Petersburg, both sitting with 14 points each. One point behind them was CALIPSO’s Maxim Taranov, and then one more point back was ARTTUBE RUS1’s Valeria Kovalenko crew from Taganrog (Moscow).
Day Two- SaturdayThe second day of competition produced more surprises, again! Eleven more races were sailed, bringing the total to twenty-six. Nine teams had sailed 8 races, eighteen teams a total of 9 races.
Saturday's races did not change the composition of the top five, but it did change the team standings on the leaderboard. Taranov’s CALIPSO now led, followed by Kuzmin, Kovalenko, Yakhinson and Shunin.
Note, that the winner of the first Act in Sochi- NAVIGATOR Sailing Team with Igor Rytov as skipper- was now in the 12th position, an indication of how tough the competition had become since the first regatta.
The main questions for the regatta was- will the debutantes at the top of the standings be able to defend their positions and climb onto the podium? Why is it so tough? Make note of the fact that this event had many of Russia’s top Olympic sailing athletes on various teams- famous names in Europe such as Sergey Komissarov, Denis Gribanov, Jan Chekh, Ivan Zotov, Christian Chekh, Vladimir Chaus, Boris Kucherenko, and Pavel Karachov, to name a few!
Day Three- SundayThe third day of competition saw more good sailing conditions and the regatta PRO managed to knock out ten more races, for a total of 36 races completed! In the end, each of the teams sailed a total of twelve races.
Sailing in their first Russian National J/70 Sailing League regatta, it was Maxim Taranov’s crew on CALIPSO that won by just 3 pts, with 30 total. His crew consisted of Vladimir Shishkin, Nikolai Kryuchkov, Egor Zuev and Ilya Polishchuk; like ARTTUBE RUS1, this team had only two finishes off the podium in twelve races- a superior result for the debutante of the Higher Division!
Taking second place, not surprisingly for many familiar with top Russian J/70 teams, was Valerya Kovalenko’s ARTTUBE RUS team; consisting of Alexander Bozhko, Igor Lisovenko, and Denis Rozhkov. The team had a rough start, scoring a 5-2-8 in their first three races, but they got their “mojo” going and came roaring back, posting two 1sts and five 2nds enroute to racing up the leaderboard to take the silver. As a result, their two 2nd places in the first two events gives them a strong lead for the overall series.
In the third place were KONAKOVO RIVER CLUB’s Dmitry Shunin, Artem Basalkin, Artem Markov and Ivan Kolinko. This finish, coupled with a fourth in the first event, has moved them up into second place behind Kovalenko’s team for the overall series.
Facebook sailing video highlightshttps://www.facebook.com/russiansailingleague/videos/608858686118766/
https://www.facebook.com/russiansailingleague/videos/608363092834992/
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