(Sochi, Russia)- For the start of the 2018 Russian National J/70 Sailing League, twenty-six teams from across the country (from Vladivostok to St Petersburg), participated in the challenging, choppy waters of the Black Sea off the seaside resort of Sochi (the site of the Winter Olympics). It marked the fourth full season of sailing for Russian teams sailing J/70s across the enormous landscape of the Russian Federation.
These are the teams that began their journey in the fourth full season of the League. Participating in the first regatta in Sochi were LORD OF THE SAIL- ASIA (Sergei Musikhin), NAVIGATOR Sailing Team (Igor Rytov), LORD OF THE SAIL- EUROPE (Pavel Kuznetsov), PIRogovo (Yuri Morozov), Konakovo River Club (Mark Kagansky), ARTTUBE RUS1 (Valeriya Kovalenko), St. Petersburg Yacht Club Yachting Academy (Jan Chekh), Rocknrolla Sailing Team / RUS76 (Alisa Kirilyuk), Leviathan (Maxim Titarenko), X-Fit (Vladimir Silkin), DC TEAM (Denis Cherevatenko), Sochi-South Sport FPS (Alexander Mazurin), Region-23 (Evgeny Nikiforov), NAVIGATOR Trem (Alexandra Peterson), Parma- (Vitaly Tarakanov), USC (Dmitry Zhayvoronok), ResursKomplekt (Andrey Nikolaev), Skolkovo Sailing Team (Andrey Davydyuk), KOMATEK (Vyacheslav Frolov) , RUS7 (Anatoly Arnautov), East-West (Evgeny Anishev), Imperial Yacht Club (Artem Kuznetsov), CSKA Moscow (Alexander Mikhaylik), QPRO Sailing Team (Zoran Paunovich), Black Sea Sailing Team (Inal Berbekov) and Calipso (Vladimir Shishkin).
Friday
The racing started on Friday, eight races were held with 18 teams sailing at least 3 races and 7 teams sailed 2. Due to the uneven number of races, to make a judgment on performance would be difficult. However, what was clear was that one team was ahead of the whole planet! Valeriya Kovalenko’s ARTTUBE RUS 1 team (photo above) had three wins in three races for just 3 pts total! That was powerful beginning! However, something like this was to be expected, because it was this Russian team that won the YC Monaco Winter J/70 Sportboat series, defeating all competitors from across Europe and won the overall trophy. Kovalenko’s crew includes Igor Ignatenko, Igor Lisovenko and Alexander Bozhko, all from the Taganrog (Moscow) region.
Sitting in a provisional second place after sailing just two races was another star of Russian yachting, Igor Rytov’s NAVIGATOR Sailing Team. Then, just behind them was Alexander Mikhaylik’s CSKA Moscow Team in third with 5 pts.
The winners on Friday included six teams: SAIL LORD-ASIA, NAVIGATOR Sailing Team, RUS7 (Anatoly Arnautov), CSKA Moscow, KOMATEK (Vyacheslav Frolov) and ARTTUBE RUS 1. Watch the YouTube “Live” sailing video of first day- 3 hrs 20 min!
Saturday highlights - sailing video- 2:13
Saturday
On Saturday, despite the difficult weather that included rain and a very shifty wind, the Race Committee and PRO managed to conduct 14 races, for a total of 22 races sailed so far. Again, there were differences in the number of races each team sailed due to the boat rotations and number of racers.
Nevertheless, it was Kovalenko’s ARTTUBE RUS 1 that continued to lead the regatta with 8 races sailed and just 21 pts total. Just behind was a tie on points between Rytov’s NAVIGATOR Sailing Team and Yachting Academy of St. Petersburg’s Anna Basalkina, both with 7 races and 20 pts each.
As a result, the racing was so tight that these three teams all had the chances of winning and getting on the podium for the first stage of the Russian National J/70 Sailing League.
Sunday Finale
After three days, 32 races were held. Five teams had 10 races, fourteen teams had 11, and seven teams had 12 races. For teams that missed one race, they were added the average value of points scored in their previous races. Teams that had 12 races in the standings had their last race discarded.
As a result, the NAVIGATOR Sailing Team that consisted of Igor Rytov, Anton Sergeev, Konstantin Besputin and Vyacheslav Martynov won in a stubborn fight over the ace J/70 sailor- Valeriya Kovalenko’s ARTTUBE RUS 1. Unfortunately, after winning 4 races, Kovalenko’s team counted an 8th place in one of the Sunday races, knocking them out of contention for the lead to have to settle for the silver. Her team lost by 1.2 pts.
Taking the bronze was the LORD OF THE SAIL- EUROPE team sailed by Pavel Kuznetsov, Evgeny Neugodnikov, Vyacheslav Ermolenko and Yuri Popov. The team from Ekaterinburg had good results on the final day to climb onto the podium ahead of their rivals.
Rounding out the top five were the Konakovo River Club (Mark Kagansky) in 4th place and the Sailing Academy of the St. Petersburg Yacht Club (Anna Basalkina) in fifth position.
Sailing highlights video- day 3
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