ARTTUBE RUS-1 WINS TENZOR CUP BY PROYACHTING J/70 CHAMPION SERIES

 

(Sochi, Russia)- For the 2020 sailing season, PROYachting partnered with TENZOR Consulting Group to launch a new series that gathered together the best Russian sailing teams in the J/70 class. The regatta was run along the lines of the notable sailing leagues in Russia and across Europe. The event was composed of matched J/70 one-designs with new sails, professional refereeing, convenient locations, and of course the best sailors in all of Russia dueling for top honors. The series started in Moscow at the Royal Yacht Club, thereafter to the Konakovo River Club, then to Pirogovo, and then the finale in the famous Black Sea resort of Sochi.


After five races, winning the finale in Sochi was the DC Team, followed by Team ARMORED in second and Valeriya Kovalenko's familiar ARTTUBE RUS-1 Team in third. 

As a result, the ARTTUBE RUS-1 team of Ms. Kovalenko and crew of Sergey Avdonin, Igor Lisovenko, and Denis Rozhkov were declared the overall winners for the TENZOR CUP by PROYachting series! The team performed great at all four stages and deservedly took the overall championship. Congratulations! 


For the balance of the podium, taking the Silver was the DC Team skippered by the ever-competitive Denis Cherevatenko. And, taking the bronze was Team BARS skippered by yet another top Russian woman- Karen Stepanyan.  For more J/70 one-design class sailing information.  For more Russian J/70 Class sailing informationAdd to Flipboard Magazine.

ZID ART Team Wins Russian J/70 Sailing League- Act IV

 

(Sevastopol, Crimea)- Traditionally, Russia's National Sailing League competitions in their swiftly growing fleet of J/70s (now 36 in three locations!) consist of six stages, including the Grand Finale generally held in Sochi, Russia on the Black Sea. However, like just about everyone else around the world, the 2020 season was heavily affected by the pandemic.  The regatta schedule was adjusted to the same number of events but compressed into just three months and just two locations- Sevastopol, Crimea and Abrau-Durso, Russia. Both are southern locations on the Black Sea and, generally, have comfortable weather and sailing conditions, even in the late fall season. Here is the report from Act IV held in Sevastopol. 


Day 1- Light and shifty
Fifteen teams from different regions of Russia are participating on the spectacular waters of Sevastopol Bay; including Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Krasnodar, Tuapse, Grozny and, of course, Sevastopol.

The first day of racing did not begin until noon, as the wind in the water area was constantly shifting and oscillating in pressure. However, the race committee still managed to start ten races during the afternoon.

“We waited for the wind until half past twelve,” said Chief Judge Anna Deyanova. "By the end of the day, the wind increased in gusts to 12 knots. In the morning, a west wind was blowing, but in the evening, it shifted into the east."

From the first races, the Moscow ZID art Sailing team took the lead. The ZID ART Sailing Team skippered by Zoran Paunovic scored only 11 points in six races, winning three of them.

“We were worried, because this is not really our weather,” said Zoran Paunovic. "We have a very well-coordinated team, we have been working together for a long time, and today we just waited for our moment."

“Master of the Sail-ASIA” was just three points behind, which had only five races. The crew of Sergei Musikhin celebrated only one victory for the day.

“At this stage, there are just three very competitive teams racing,” says Sergei Musikhin. "We are just adapting to this situation. The shifty wind only adds to the difficulty!"

Another contender for the medals was Kirill Frolov's Bronenosec crew from St. Petersburg. The team from the northern capital managed to score 16 points in six races, including three victories.

The closest pursuer of the virtual medalists was Moscow's X-FIT. At this stage, Boris Kucherenko is at the helm of the team. The team is separated from the third position by only 6 points. The top five is rounded out by the Academy of Sailing of the Yacht Club of St. Petersburg. The crew, led by skipper Anna Basalkina, scored 27 points in seven starts.


Day 2
Contrary to all forecasts, the wind died by noon, but then filled back in with a gentle sea breeze. The racing committee managed to get 12 more starts, so the regatta had 22 races completed.

“The day was very productive, we used all the time allotted for the races," said Chief Judge Deyanova. "A distinctive feature of today was the parade of Russian Navy ships. We have never seen such a number of huge ships crossing our fleet! The people on the beach were also happy to see the show."

For Saturday's racing, the ZID ART Sailing team broke away from their rivals by a crushing number of points - 21 pts total. Zoran Paunovich's team never finished below third place in seven races.

Nevertheless, a new slate of teams was able to adapt to the variable conditions on Sevastopol Bay, some gained significantly, while the previous day's leaders tumbled down the ladder. 

The St. Petersburg team, led by Anna Basalkina, gathered strength. Having started the second racing day with a victory, the “Academy of Sailing of the Yacht Club of St. Petersburg” confidently finished the day in second place overall.  

“It cannot be said that the sea conditions are strong, as the wind often came from the shore, so it was not easy,” said Anna Basalkina. "At this stage, we have an updated line-up for our team. The races are very tight, it's tough sailing! ZID art gives no mercy to anyone, but everything will be decided for us in the last races."

Two teams are fighting for the third step on the podium; Akhmat and Calipso sailing teams. The national team of the Chechen Republic, the AKHMAT Sailing Club, had a new crew under the leadership of Christian Chech. They got accustomed to the sailing conditions and rallied fast, climbing five places after fourteen races! They are racing neck-in-neck with the team from Tuapse; Maxim Taranov's CALIPSO crew, they also adapted to the conditions, taking first three times!


Day 3
On the final day of racing, the Crimean wind again was unstable in the first half of the day. The sailors had to wait for more than an hour for the wind to become steady enough to resume the races. Again, the race committee managed to get 8 more good races in to complete the regatta; 30 races in three days, and each team had 18 races to count!

“In the morning, the wind was blowing along the bay, its direction was completely incomprehensible,” said Chief Judge Deyanova. "In the afternoon we got a great wind from a completely opposite direction, which gave us tight starts and interesting finishes. Thanks to Sevastopol for these great conditions!"

Sunday's races helped some teams catch up with their rivals and rectify the situation for the past two racing days.

After a hard start, the 2019 League champion AKHMAT Sailing Club was still able to climb several positions. The new crew from the Chechen Republic, skippered by Christian Cech, did not quite reach the podium, just eight points shy, but enough to take fourth place. 

The Sailing Academy of the St. Petersburg Yacht Club managed to garner the bronze medal. Anna Basalkina's crew, replenished with new members, was able to climb onto the podium with steady sailing.


“We are glad to have the bronze medal, because we were still fighting for second position,” said Anna Basalkina. "We had serious shortcomings; it was hard to fight through them. This weekend did not go as I expected. We will arrive at the next stronger, for sure!  I hope it will be easier for us."

This event was hard for the CALIPSO team from Tuapse, which tried to adapt to the difficult waters of Sevastopol Bay on Friday. Then, on Saturday, their team gathered strength and earned six victories in two racing days. As a result, the elated and relieved CALIPSO team took home the silver medal.

“In the last race, we had to finish no lower than fifth place," said Maxim Taranov. "Starting the last downwind leg, we were sixth, everywhere we went, we got into difficulties. On the last run, the smart ones went to the right, the other ones to the left, and we stayed in the middle. We chose our path, and it turned out to be the correct one! We arrived first to the weather mark, then finished first, and dashed Anna Basalkina's hopes for second place. Thankfully, Lady Fortune smiled on us!"

There was no equal in Sevastopol to the ZID ART Sailing team. From the very first day, the Moscow team began to break away from their rivals. By the end of the third racing day, the gap between first and second place was 20 points. With seven victories to their credit, Zoran Paunovic's crew won the gold in the Upper Division for the first time.

“This is my first win in the Premier League. Of course, I am very happy," said Paunovich. "Standing on the stage, I recalled our victory here last year in the Sevastopol International Cup. By comparison, I don't know when it was more difficult, then or now. This time I was more worried, as we are a heavy team, and the forecast did not promise a strong wind. As a result, we have shown that it's not in vain that we have been sailing with such a line-up. The crew understands each other perfectly."

Thanks must go to the following supporters of the Russian National J/70 Sailing League:

• the Government of Sevastopol
• the Sailing Federation of Sevastopol
• Gazprom AG
• Nord Stream AG with the Nord Stream Race project
• the Russian Maritime Register of Shipping
• the federal network of X-FIT fitness clubs.
• communications: Down-the-line.com, Ocean TV, Yachting magazine.

Follow the Russian Sailing League on Facebook here.  For more Russian National J/70 Sailing League informationAdd to Flipboard Magazine.

AHKMAT TEAM Win Russian J/70 National Championship!

(Sochi, Russia)- Two-dozen teams from across Russia assembled in Sochi, Russia to sail the 2019 Russian J/70 National Championship. The Sochi Grand Marina by Burevestnik Group hosted the three-day event. After a ten race, two discards series; it was Alexander Bozhko and his amazingly fast crew on AKHMAT that were crowned as the Russian J/70 National Champions.  Here is how it all went down on the choppy waters of the Black Sea off the Olympic city of Sochi.

Day 1
Included in the 24 teams that started the Russian J/70 Nationals were many of the past few year’s leading teams. Remarkably, there were five women skippers (the most ever in a major Russian sailing event) participating; including DOLCE VITA (steering Inna Balashova); ARTTUBE RUS1 (Valeria Kovalenko); TREM SAILING 1 (Alexandra Peterson); TREM SAILING 2 (Irina Sorokina); and MATRYOSHKA (Natalia Kravets).

The leading men’s crews included X-FIT (Vladimir Silkin); ZID ART SAILING TEAM (Zoran Paunovich); AKHMAT (Alexander Bozhko); and M-SAILING TEAM (Andrey Malygin).

Sochi is one of the favorite sailing areas for Russian sailing events. Nevertheless, this was the first time the J/70 Class held their Russian National Championship in the Olympic capital city.

The first race day turned out to be quite complicated, despite the forecasts foreshadowing the complete absence of wind and heavy rain. Fortunately, neither of them happened. But, unfortunately, a quiet wind set at 50-60 degrees, which twice led to race postponements right after the start. In the end, two races were held in the light northeast winds offshore.

Leading after the first day was Alexander Bozhko’s Chechnyian crew aboard AKHMAT; they had only 4 points in 2 races. The second and third place teams were tied with 7 pts each- the twin teams of M Sailing Team (Andrei Malygin) and M Sailing Team CSKA (Mikhail Poslamovsky). Sitting in fourth place just one point back was top woman helm Natalia Kravets on MATRYOSHKA. Fifth place also had a tie at 9 pts each- Peter Nosov’s CARAMBA and Zoran Paunovich’s ZID art Sailing team.

Day 2
For the second day of sailing, Sochi weather was again distinguished by its inconsistency. Contrary to expectations, the wind was not stable enough.

The Chief Judge of the regatta- Nikolay Yushkov- commented, “the day started very well. In the first two races, the southeast wind blew a steady 15 knots. We were glad that the races were longer, each taking about an hour. In the middle of the day, the wind changed its direction 180 degrees! Then, we waited a couple of hours for the wind to settle. Amazingly, the wind returned to his original southeast direction, and we were able to run two more races.”

As a result, four more races were added to the results for a total of six races to score. Further increasing their lead was Bozhko’s Chechen Republic team on AKMAT after posting two 1sts and two 2nds! However, close friend and archrival Valeria Kovalenko on ARTTUBE RUS 1 had an amazing day, posting two 1sts and a 3-4 to race up the standings into second place! Rising to third place was Malygin’s M-SAILING team.

Day 3
The final day of the regatta turned out to be a sight for sore eyes- a stable wind of up to 8 knots made it possible to run four more races, to make it ten races in all. Coincidentally, the teams could now discard their two worst results.

Chief Judge Nikolay Yushkov commented, “we had a great day! The sun, warmth, stable southeast wind- all the components for high-quality sailing! It is a pity that the day was shortened, otherwise they would still be racing, with big smiles on their faces!. Congratulations to the winners and prize winners!”

Crowned as the 2019 Russian J/70 National Champion was the team from the Chechen Republic on AHKMAT. Bozhko’s team sailed a phenomenal regatta, winning with just 17 pts total and not having to sail the last race! Rising to the challenge of maintaining a podium position was Malygin’s M-SAILING Team, taking the silver over Kovalenko’s ARTTUBE RUS 1 Team, who finished with the bronze medal.

Rounding out the top five were Yuri Morozov’s RUSSOTRANS in fourth place and Peter Nosov’s crew on CARAMBA in fifth.  Follow the Russian J/70 Sailing League on Facebook   For more Russian J/70 National Championship sailing information here Add to Flipboard Magazine.