(Sevastopol, Crimea)- The inaugural Sevastopol J/70 International Cup was sailed from the 4th to the 6th of October. The regatta was held in conjunction with the Sevastopol Sailing Week festival.
Eighteen teams from Russia, Serbia and Ireland participated in the first open international regatta in Sevastopol. Some of the leading teams included, B-TEAM (Russia, Artem Basalkin), M-SAILING–CSKA (Russia, Alexandr Bozhko), MATRYOSHKA (Russia, Natalia Kravez), WILD CARD (Ireland, William Twomey), X-Fit (Russia, Vladimir Chaus), ZID ART Sailing team (Serbia, Zoran Paunovic), GALS (Russia, Sergey Dzhienbaev), DOBRYNYA (Russia, Igor Ignatov), ROSMOSPORT (Russia, Anton Timakov), and BLACK SEA NAVAL School (Russia, Petr Gorkunov). Here are the daily reports how the competition unfolded in a unique format. The first two days were qualifiers for the top 10 teams. Then, on the final day, the “Gold Medal Races” for ten teams would determine the champion in a winner-take-all finale of three races.
Day 1
The sailing was good on the first day, with twelve total races run (6 for each team) before the close of racing for the day due to lack of sunlight! Leading after the first day was Artem Basalkin’s B-TEAM from Russia. Leading after the first two races was Alexander Bozhko’s M-SAILING CSKA team from Russia, however, they dropped to second place after posting a fourth place in their last race. Third place was a free-for-all, with four teams tied on 22 pts each after their six races.
Four different teams were claiming the third place. PEK: Sport won two races, Zoran Paunovic’s Serbian team on ZID ART SAILING won one and Sergey Dzhienbaev’s GALS also won one. The fourth crew was a top Russian woman sailor- Natalia Kravez- skippering MATRYOSHKA.
Day 2
The second day was full of surprises. The sailors were greeted in the morning with heavy rain that thankfully ended before noon. The Race committee then sent the teams out and ran 10 more races (5 for each team).
M-SAILING- CSKA showed an excellent performance and climbed back into first place back after two victories. B-TEAM has also won two races, but scored 5 extra points and ended the day in second place overall.
ZID ART Sailing team from Serbia beat all rivals after winning three races and ended the day in third place. GALS and X-Fit won one race each and were now fourth and fifth. MATRYOSHKA dropped to sixth place.
Day 3- Medal Race Finale
The final day of racing saw six qualifying races and three medal races. It was the first time the National Sailing League used this format.
After three days of racing, PEK: SPORT closed the Top-10 with two victories. Bill Twomey’s Irish team on WILD CARD finished 9th. The Saint Petersburg Yacht Club Youth Team was in 8th place. ALGA TATARSTAN from Kazan was in 7th place, winning their last race. MATRYOSHKA was three points behind the Top 5.
The final “Medal Races” were unpredictable and spectacular. The final results were calculated by the following method: your place after qualifying races + the sum of the points gained during medal races.
The top five qualifiers were M-SAILING- CSKA in first, ZID ART SAILING in second, B-TEAM third, GALS fourth, and X-FIT fifth.
In the three Medal Races, B-TEAM won two races and GALS won one race. However, ZID ART SAILING was the most consistent team in terms of results, scoring three seconds! The fate of the Cup was decided during the last medal race. B-TEAM won the race, but ZID ART Sailing team won the first Sevastopol J/70 International Cup. Follow the Sevastopol J/70 International Cup on Facebook here For more Sevastopol J/70 International Cup sailing information Add to Flipboard Magazine.
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