Russia J/70 Winter Series Announcement

(Moscow, Russia)- The 2021 J/70 National Sailing League in Russia has announced their NSL Winter Series has started in Sevastopol, Crimea and will run for five total events from mid-January to the end of March. The fleet of twelve matched one-design J/70s are available to teams from across Russia, from St. Petersburg to Vladivostok, and Moscow down to Sochi on the Black Sea. 


There was real winter weather at the 1st Stage in Sevastopol. Everything including the kitchen sink was thrown at the fleet by the weather Gods...light airs, squalls, planing mode, drifting mode, sunny skies, snow, sleet.  No matter what hit the fleet, the sailors were undeterred. Air temperatures ranging from 28 F to 45 F didn't seem to affect any of the sailors who were determined to get on the water, having missed sailing so much because of covid pandemic canceled events. 

Enjoy some of these very cool photos taken over the course of three days of competition.



The next stages will all be sailed in Sevastopol, easily the "warmest" southern port on the Black Sea for the Russian sailing teams. Here is the remaining schedule:

• Stage 2-January 29-31
• Stage 3-February 12-14
• Stage 4-February 26-28
• Final - March 12-14

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

AKHMAT Crowned Russia J/70 National Champions

 

(Pirogovo, Russia)- An eighteen-boat J/70 fleet from across Russia gathered together at the amazing Pirogovo Yacht Club on the Klyazma River immediately north of Moscow for an excellent four-day weekend of racing. With nearly perfect fall weather, the regatta PYC PRO managed to run fifteen races for the happy sailors.


The first day dawned sunny, warm with a 5-10 knots breeze flowing down the river that ultimately built to 1- to 17 kts of breeze. For the next two days, the weather hardly changed, with the same conditions blessing everyone with great racing conditions on flat water.


In the end, it was the AKHMAT TEAM that won with a very strong 48 pts in the fifteen races, for an amazing 3.7 average in 13 races counted.  A very familiar team took the silver, Valeriya Kovalenko's ARTTUBE RUS1 with a nearly similar scoreline for 52 pts. In fact, she just beat by one point a newcomer to the Russian J/70 circuit, the ELF TEAM.  Sailing Photo Credits- Valeria Isaenko   For more Russian J/70 Championship sailing information

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.

Moscow PRO Yachting Evening Series Announcement!

 
(Moscow, Russia)- PRO Yachting Moscow announces that the Moscow Royal Yacht Club will be starting a new series of evening regattas on their fleet of a dozen J/70s.   

The Royal Yacht Club, located in the Dynamo Water Stadium just west of Moscow’s Red Square, will now provide more opportunities for sailing. The PRO Yachting Fun Race is designed for young teams, novice helmsmen, and novices to participant in evening races on the lake that is convenient to downtown Moscow.

“We decided to organize a series regatta, where it will be interesting for novice skippers to learn how to race, the only qualification being that you have to know how to sail. In addition, this will also be a good opportunity for absolute beginners to get acquainted with sailing in comfortable Moscow conditions on our flat water lake,” said Mikhail Kondratyev, General Director of PRO Yachting.

The regattas will be held every Thursday. Sailors should meet at the Royal Y.C. for the 1800 hrs skippers and team meeting, then the start of the first race will be by 1900 hrs. We will sail as many short races as we can get in by sunset!  Learn more about PRO Yachting’s Evening Learn to Race Program on J/70s here

Russian J/70 Sailing League Report

(Kazan, Russia)- The Russian J/70 Sailing League is well into the heart of their summer-long series that started back in late April in Sochi, Russia.  Below are the two reports from the Act III in Kazan and Act II in Tuapse.

UGAR CREW Win Kazan Regatta- Act III
The thirteen teams sailed on the waters of Kazan- Lake Nizhny Kaban- for the first time in the history of the Russian National Sailing League (the lake is an offshoot of the Volga River about 510 miles (820km) to the east of Moscow). Those teams came from all over the country, such as Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Kazan, Rostov-on-Don, Sochi and Konakovo. The teams included; B-Team (Milena Nikitina), Sail & Sea (Vasily Kharabardin), PEC: Sport Molodyozhka ( Dmitry Popkov), UGAR CREW (Ruslan Yakupov), Skolkovo Sailing Team (Elena Mukhametzyanova), PEC:Sport (Vadim Filatov), Khimgrad-Kazan (Roman Medvedev), Demidov Express (Vladislav Morozov), Vostok West 2 (Ivan Batrakov), Rosmorport (Ivanov Sergey), Lead IT! (Yuri Mishchenko), Dobrynya (Ekaterina Stolbneva), RBF Sailing Team (Alexander Mamyshev) and ZID Art Sailing team (Zoran Paunovich).

Day 1- Friday
On the first day, the bad weather from earlier in the week had cleared up, so the sailors were met by clear skies and a nice fresh wind gusting up to 20 kts. The RC PRO managed to run twelve races in total, six per team.

“We were lucky with the weather, there was a steady northerly wind of 8-10 knots, and during one of the races the gusts reached 20 knots,” says Chief Judge Albert Sadykov. “The races turned out to be dynamic and clean.”

Ruslan Yakupov’s UGAR CREW team started fast out-of-the-blocks and won their first three races, followed by a 5-3-2, to have a comfortable lead on the fleet. However, behind the UGAR CREW it was a tight struggle for the podium. All but two teams won races.  The most successful in that battle was SAIL & SEA skippered by Vasily Kharabardina, posting a 4-3-3-3-2-1 tally for the day. Then sitting in third was Zoran Paunovich’s ZID ART Sailing Team, starting fast, but then having mixed results later in the day and ending up with a 2-1-5-2-8-3 record.

Day 2- Saturday
The fleet was greeted by more most excellent racing weather. On Saturday, another 12 races were held; thus, in the course of two days, there were 24 races, each team sailing 12 times.

The main breakthrough on Saturday was the ascent to the top of the leaderboard by ZID art Sailing team. After a not quite successful performance on Friday, the team from Moscow won four out of six races (1-3-1-1-2-1). Paunovich’s well-orchestrated ZID Art crew consisted of Sergey Volchkov, Daniil Banayan and Ilya Zaporozhets.

After posting a consistent 6-3-2-2-2-5 record, sitting in second remained the leader from the previous day, Yakupov’s UGAR CREW (Vyacheslav Ivanov, Inal Berbekov and Andrey Ignatenko). And, still sitting in third was Kharabardin’s SAIL & SEA team with a tally of 2-6-1-3-3-5.

Day 3- Sunday
On the final day of the regatta, the weather continued to delight both the organizers and the sailors.  Despite the gusty winds, the race committee managed to provide 12 more starts. Thus, for the entire stage, 36 races were held, and each team sailed 18 times.

At the top of the standings, there was a change of positions. The winner of the Kazan stage Paunovich’s ZID ART Sailing team; eight wins in eighteen races is an excellent result. Congratulations to Zoran Paunovich, Sergey Volchkov, Daniil Banayan and Ilya Zaporozhts!

Gathering strength, Kharabardin’s SAIL & SEA team won four of the six races held on Sunday and recorded a 2-3 in the others! This phenomenal result allowed Kharabardin’s SAIL & SEA team (Vladislav Bondarenko, Mikhail Nechvolodov and Leonid Klepikov) to take home the silver medal.

Yakupov’s UGAR CREW did not perform as well on the final day, posting a 5-5-3-6-3-3 to drop into third place. 

“There was a gusty wind, it often changed direction, and it was possible to run aground along the coast,” said Yakupov. “In general, we really liked the regatta. Both the city and the organizers did a great job of conducting the stage in Kazan. The capital of the Republic of Tatarstan is very beautiful, people are beautiful, friendly. Only positive impressions remained. If we talk about the secret of the success of the team, we will not disclose it ye …until the end of the season- for sure!”

SAIL & SEA Tops Tuapse Regatta- Act II
The second event for the Russian J/70 National League was held off a commercial port on the Black Sea- Tuapse- about 70 miles (100 km) NNW of Sochi. Fourteen teams came from all over Russia (Moscow, St. Petersburg, Sochi, Kazan, Voronezh and Yekaterinburg) to fight for more medals in Tuapse. Those teams included B-Team (Alexei Lesnikov), Sail & Sea (Vasily Kharabardin), PEC Sport Molodyozhka (Dmitry Popkov), UGAR CREW (Ruslan Yakupov), Skolkovo Sailing Team (Sergey Shvilkin), PEK Sport (Vadim Filatov), Khimgrad-Kazan (Maxim Uvarov), Demidov Express (Evgeny Somin), Mossebo (Andrei Evstifeev), East-West 2 (Ivan Batrakov), Assol Home Companions (Igor Lipen), Rosmorport (Anton Timakov), Lead IT! (Maxim Krukelis) and Dobrynya (Ekaterina Stolbnev).

Unlike their first event off Sochi, Tuapse was blessed with almost perfect weather all weekend, but perhaps not enough wind!

Day One- Friday
"For the entire first day in Tuapse, for the first time there was a steady wind that did not change direction for the whole day," said Chief Judge Daniel Deyanov. “The wind was between 4.5 and 10 knots, beautiful sailing!”

Despite some delays caused by racing inside the fully functioning commercial port (like avoiding big ships transiting the channel into the harbor!), the race committee managed to start eleven races. As a result, half the crews managed to sail six races, and the other half- five.

The SAIL & SEA team of Vasily Kharabardin led after the first day of racing. The St. Petersburg-based team confidently finished in the top three throughout the day, with the exception of the last race, posting an enviable 1-2-1-1-2-4 record.

Sailing less consistently, but still right at the top of the standings was Ekaterina Stolbneva's DOBRYNYA team, hanging on to second place with a scoreline of 4-1-6-2-3-2. However, she was tied on points with Dmitry Popkov’s PEC:SPORT Molodezhka team that had a record of 2-3-6-3-1-3, with Popkov’s team sitting in third on countback.

The winner of the first stage in Sochi, Alexey Lesnikova’s B-TEAM could only manage fourth after posting a 3-2-5-3-6-1 tally. T

Day 2- Saturday
The second racing day had very scanty weather conditions from the beginning.  Pretty day, sunny, but weak winds. The race committee managed to hold only six races, for a total of seventeen over two days.

“In the morning there was borderline weather, the wind was around 4.5 knots, sometimes falling to 4 kts,” said Chief Judge Daniel Deyanov. “We thought about canceling the races, but in the morning we still managed to get four starts. Later, the wind fell to zero and did not rise above 1 knot for five hours!”

The leader of the first day, the SAIL & SEA team did not win a single race (5-5-3) and gave up their lead to fall into second place. Similarly, Stolbneva’s DOBRYNYA team had an even more miserable day in the light to drifting conditions, posting a 6-7-2 to drop into fifth place

Meanwhile, Dmitry Popkov’s PEC:SPORT Molodezhka won one of his two races (1-2), which jumped them into the top of the leaderboard. Then, the second place team on the first day, the B-TEAM had 2-3-1 that kept them on the podium in third.

Day 3- Sunday
On Sunday, the Tuapse wind almost abated, but the racing committee still managed to hold four more races. As a result, twenty-one races were sailed so that half the teams sailed ten races and the others eleven.

“In the morning, the wind reached 5 knots, so we managed to hold two races,” said Deyanov. “We caught every breath of wind, but we couldn't get more than four races on Sunday.”

Popkov’s PEC:SPORT Molodezhka failed to extend their brilliant Saturday performance on Sunday, posting a 4-3-3 to drop down the standings and take the bronze medal.

Winning in the end was Kharabardin’s SAIL & SEA, the original leader after the first day.  The collected their wits back together and closed the regatta on a strong note.

“I liked the race in Tuapse,” said Kharabardin. “The weather was different, but although the wind was not very strong, the judges and organizers managed to hold a good regatta. The fight was sharp and highly competitive. We were very worried when on the second day we failed!  But, luckily, we managed to stage a strong comeback!”

Taking the silver for the regatta and perhaps making the biggest comeback of all teams was Ruslan Yakupov’s UGAR CREW team, leaping three spots up the leaderboard in just three races!  Follow the Russian J/70 Sailing League on Facebook here  For more Russian National Sailing League information Add to Flipboard Magazine.

Russian J/70 Sailing League Report

(Sochi/ Tuapse/ Konakovo, Russia)- The Russian J/70 Sailing League has already started off their 2019 sailing season and over the past two weeks it is in full swing!  Over 45 teams from all over Russia have been sailing in the Supreme Division and the Premiere Division; on famous Black Sea resorts in Sochi and Tuapse. In addition, a Qualifying event was held at the Konakovo River Club, northwest of Moscow.

Tuapse Supreme Division- Stage II
Twenty-three teams entered the battle for the title of the Russian Sailing League Champion; Burevestnik Sailing Team (ex. Leviathan) (steering Vadim Yakhinson), ArtTube RUS1 (Valeria Kovalenko), Calipso (Maxim Taranov), Sailing Academy of the Yacht Club of St. Petersburg (Anna Basalkina), PIRogovo (Yuri Morozov), Sail Lord— ASIA (Vyacheslav Yermolenko), Sail Lord– EUROPE (Andrey Ryzhov), NAVIGATOR Trem (Alexandra Peterson), Rocknrolla Sailing Team (Irina Sorokina), X-Fit (Vladimir Silkin), RUS7 (Sergey Shevtsov), Region-23 (Evgeny Nikiforov), CSKA (Mikhail Poslamovsky), Black Sea (Andrey Malygin), Komatek (Vyacheslav Frolov), OSK (Edward Skornyakov), East-West (Andrey Zuev), ZID art Sailing team (Evgeny Neugodnikov), Parusnik74.ru (Edward Podshivalov), Winner Sailing Team (Karina Teljyants), Matryoshka (Natalia Kravets), Akhmat (Alexander Bozhko) and the guest team “AMP of the Black Sea” (Nikolai Egorov).

Tuapse provided the sailors what could only be described as completely non-April weather and variable wind. A combination of rain, sun, clouds, and highly variable winds in both direction and velocity.

“The strength of the wind was constantly changing: from complete calm to 10-12 knots,” said Chief Judge Nikolai Yushkov. “I can only imagine how hard it was for the racers. What was important was not so much knowledge as luck, a sense of wind, and much good fortune!”

As a result, eleven races were sailed on the first race day. Fifteen teams had four starts, six teams had three races each and two teams had five each.

After the first race day, the undisputed leader was the BLACK SEA Team skippered by Andrey Malygin with an impressive 1-1-1-4 record. They were followed by NAVIGATOR TREM helmed by Alexandra Peterson with a 2-4-1-2 tally. RUS7 Team led by Sergey Shevtsov was sitting in third place with a 5-2-2-1.  Having a rough time in the variable weather off Tuapse were the leaders after Stage I; Alexander Bozhko’s crew from the Chechen Republic on AKHMAT finished the day in 6th place, while Valeria Kovalenko’s crew from Pirogovo on ARTTUBE RUS1 sat in a very uncharacteristic 10th place.

At the end of the regatta on Sunday, the PRO managed to run only ten more races.  As a result, it was Malygin’s BLACK SEA Team that managed to hold off a hard-charging AKHMAT Team skippered by Alexander Bozhko to take the top two spots on the podium.  Meanwhile, Petersen’s NAVIGATOR TREM Team lost a bit of their edge from the first day to drop into the bronze position.  Rounding out the top five were ZID ART Sailing Team (Evgeny Neugodnikov) in fourth and RUS7 (Sergey Shevtsov) dropping down the standings to fifth place after day one.

Konakovo Qualifying Division- Stage I & II
The Konakovo River Club northwest of Moscow will be hosting the first qualifying stage event for the Russian Sailing League’s “entry” division in their fleet of J/70s next weekend.

These competitions are only a great opportunity to meet other sailing teams from around Russia, but also an opportunity to qualify for the next division higher in 2020- the Premiere Division.

This year, two qualifying stages will be held in the fleet of J/70s at the Konakovo River Club. Nine teams will take part in each of the two qualifying stages, and the top four of each event will take part in the 2019 Russian Championship regatta.

Recall that last year 24 teams took part in the Russian J/70 Sailing League Championship, which took place in Pirogovo. For 2019, the championship will take place in Sochi from October 25th to 27th, hosted by Sochi Grand Marina by the Burevestnik Group.

Tuapse Premier Division- Stage II
Last weekend, the second stage of the Premiere Division took place in Tuapse. Fourteen teams participated in the regatta from Moscow, St. Petersburg, Sochi, Kazan, Voronezh and Yekaterinburg.

Over the three-day event, the organizers managed to hold twenty-one races. Unfortunately, a gentle wind prevented the fulfillment of the entire planned program. On the first day, the wind reached 10 knots.  However, for the next two days, the breezes barely pushed up to 5 kts! As a result, most of the starts- 11 - were raced on the first day of the regatta.

Friday's victor was the SAIL & SEA Team skippered by Vasily Harabardina. The crew from St. Petersburg sailed very well, posting three 1sts, two 2nds, and a 4th. Ending the day tied for second place were Ekaterina Stolbneva's DOBRYNA Team with a 4-1-6-2-3-2 tally and PEC: SPORT YOUTH Team led by Dmitry Popkov with nearly identical scores of 2-3-6-3-1-3.

On the second day, only five races were held. The leader of the first day, the SAIL & SEA Team, was unable to hold their position; two 5ths and one 3rd in three races drove the crew down to second place. Leaping into first place was Dmitry Popkov’s PEC: SPORT MOLODEZHKA Team after posting a 1-1-2 for the day. Then, moving into third place was Alexey Lesnikov’s B-TEAM (they were the winners of the first stage).

On the third and final day on Sunday, the wind “officially” died. “In the morning, the wind reached 5 knots, so we managed to hold two races,” said Daniil Dejanov, the main judge of the regatta. “We caught every breath of wind, but unfortunately, we couldn't get more than four races on Sunday.”

As a result, Popkov’s PEC: SPORT MOLODEZHKA Team failed to hold onto the top line after posting a 4-3-3 for the day, ultimately having to settle for the bronze medal in Tuapse. “For the second time in a row, we were winning after the second day,” said Mikhail Filatov, the helmsman of PEC: SPORT MOLODEZHKA. “First place was not far away! But, we made a few mistakes on the last day.”

Second place went to the UGAR Crew team. Two victories on Saturday and one on Sunday enabled the crew of Ruslan Yakupov to climb the podium for their first time in the Premier Division!

The winner was Vasily Kharabardin’s SAIL & SEA Team.  After leading the first day, then dropping off any podium position on the second day, it was a strong comeback for the team on the last day to take back the lead.

“I liked the race in Tuapse,” said Kharabardin. “The weather was different, but although the wind was not very strong, the judges and organizers managed to hold a good regatta. The fight to get on the podium was sharp and highly competitive. We were very worried when on the second day we failed so badly! But, we were happy to be lucky on the last day.”

Sochi Supreme Division- Stage I
Sochi Grand Marina by the Burevestnik Group hosted the first event for the Supreme Division’s 2019 sailing season.  Over the three days, the fleet was challenged by a wide variety of weather and solid breezes.  Twenty-eight races were completed for the twenty-four top sailing teams in the Russian National J/70 Sailing League.

In the end, it was the champion Chechen Republic skipper Alexander Bozhkov on ACHMAT that won the regatta in convincing fashion, garnering more than his fair share of 1sts and podium finishes.  Taking second was a colleague of his, Valeria Kovalenko’s ARTTUBE RUS1 Team from Pirogovo.  Bozhkov can be seen frequently crewing for Kovalenko when she sails the larger J/70 open events across Europe and around the world- a fast, smart combination those two are!  Third in the opening Sochi event was RUS7 skippered by Sergey Shevtsov. Rounding out the top five were BLACK SEA Team (Andrey Malygin) and NAVIGATOR TREM (Alexandra Peterson), fourth and fifth, respectively.  For more Russian J/70 Sailing League information Add to Flipboard Magazine.

PRO Yachting J/70 Series Awards Announcement

(Moscow, Russia)- On Tuesday, November 20, the PRO-Yachting project will complete the 2018 sailing season with their annual gala prize-giving award banquet at the Royal Yacht Club in Moscow, Russia.  The occasion is the “PRO-Yachting Persons of the Year Award.”

By tradition, PRO-Yachting will celebrate the most significant yachting events of the season and the people who have made a significant contribution to the development of sailing in 2018. The awards will be granted for the following categories: “Children's Coach of the Year”, “Sailing Event of the Year”, “Teapot of the Year”, “Discovery of the Year”, “For Lighting of Sailing”, “Photo of the Year”, “Patron of the Year”, and “Man of the Year”.

At the gala evening, PRO-Yachting will award the winners of the evening series of regattas- the Tuesday Warm-Up Race Series and the Wednesday Night Race Series.  All races were held on one-design J/70 class yachts at the Royal Yacht Club from May to October 2018.

The leader of the Wednesday Night Race series will receive the main trophy of the season- the Marine Torpilleur series watch from the Swiss watch manufacturer- Ulysse Nardin.

The overall winning team of the Tuesday Warm-Up Race series will receive four fully sponsored travel vouchers to Germany to visit the unique natural region of “Eifel”- the mountain source for the premium-class mineral water “Gerolsteiner”.

The award banquet for the "PRO-Yachting Man of the Year” has been held since 2014. Last year, SSA-9 Moscow24 Team were the winner of the Wednesday Night Race series. The Tavatuy team (Pavel Kuznetsov, Yevgeny Neugodnikov, Yegor Konyukhovsky) was recognized as the “Person of the Year” for the development of sailing sports in the Sverdlovsk Region.

Partners for the event include: watch manufacturer Ulysse Nardin, mineral water premium-class Gerolsteiner, marina luxury Porto Montenegro, yachting clothing Marinepool, sunscreen Lancaster, the Belgian premium beer Asteria, Czech Beer Bakalar. Add to Flipboard Magazine.

Russian J/70 Sailing League Finale Report

(Sevastopol, Crimea, Russia)- Last weekend, the season-long five-event Russian J/70 Sailing League series held their finale in Sevastopol, Crimea.  Sponsored by major corporations like GAZPROM and NORD SEA Gas, the sailing league is organized and supported by the Russian Sailing Federation.  As in year’s past, the fleet participated in a matched fleet of J/70s supplied for the event- with regattas taking place in Moscow (Konakovo River Club), Sochi, St Petersburg, Vladivostok, and Sevastopol.  We get this brief report from a Russian woman J/70 champion skipper- Valeriya Kovalenko from ARTTUBE RUS-1:

“We had a very successful year sailing J/70s in the Russian National League as well as in Europe and the USA for the J/70 Worlds,” said Ms Kovalenko.  “I am extremely proud of my team- Aleksey Borisov, Alexander Bozhko, Igor Lisovenko, and Max Titarenko- they are amazing!  We finished 2nd in this finale in Sevastopol and this year took 2nd place in the overall Russian National Sailing League- a performance that we are happy with after such a long season.  It is wonderful to see the level of Russian sailing improving dramatically and, in fact, it is the J/70 one-design class that has helped elevate our sailors not just in Russia, but in European and International events!”

Of interest to J/70 sailors is the fact that Valeriya Kovalenko’s team on ARTTUBE RUS-1 has been the two-time Monaco Winter Series J/70 Class winners and a podium finisher in the famous Primo Cup- Trophee Credit Suisse hosted each spring by YC Monaco. Sailing Photo credits- by Maksim Sheremetyev.
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ARTTUBE RUS-1 Crowned Russian J/70 Champion

(Moscow, Russia)- A true milestone was recently achieved for the international J/70 one-design class this past weekend.  While J/70s have become wildly popular in many countries and regions that were first popularized by the famous J/24 class back in 1977- like Europe, North, Central and South America, Japan, Australia- it is the first time that a “J/Class” has held a national one-design event in what was the principal nation-state of the former U.S.S.R. (the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics)- that is, Russia.

Russian sailing has grown considerably in the past decade across their vast expanse in “Eur-Asia”, a country that is bordered on the east by the Pacific Ocean (just 50 miles from Alaska), the west by the Baltic Sea (e.g. the source for Europe’s natural gas), the north by the Arctic Ocean, and the south by the Black Sea (linked to the Mediterranean by the Straits of Bosporus in Turkey). In between are certainly far more than the 10,000 lakes claimed by America’s state known as Minnesota.

Given that basic geography, it’s not surprising that an interest in water sports and the sea continue to flourish across Russia. A significant catalyst for that evolution (if not revolution) has been the creation of the Russian J/70 National Sailing League, sponsored and supported by the Russian Sailing Federation. That one idea has brought together sailors from across the spectrum to participate as sailing clubs, generating an enormous amount of camaraderie between sailors from east to west.

As the principal sailboat platform, the J/70 has demonstrated to Russian sailors that, literally, every person from young to old, women and men, beginners to Olympic Medallists, can learn how to sail fast, quickly, on the simple J/70.  Like their counterparts in Germany and other member countries in the SAILING CHAMPIONS LEAGUE (http://sailing-championsleague.com/), their level of sailing has improved by quantum orders of magnitude in a mere four years of close one-design racing on the easy-to-sail J/70 sailboat.

Perhaps the “poster child” of that extraordinary development has been Valeriya Kovalenko, a modest woman sailor from Moscow that has evolved to be one of Russia’s top women skippers. Her team has participated in most major European J/70 events as well as World Championships; their learning curve is steep! For the last two years, she has won the Monaco J/70 Winter Sportboat Series, as well as the YC Monaco’s prestigious PRIMO CUP Credit Suisse regatta in the spring. It is not surprising to see such results; she is fearless on the starting line and will fight for the favored-end amongst the world’s best.

Just this past weekend, the inaugural Russian Open J/70 Championship took place on the lake hosted by Pirogovo YC, just 20 miles north of Moscow. It was a first for Russia, a first for the J/70 Class, and a first for World Sailing, to have a Russian national championship sailed in a recognized international class where two dozen (yes- 24 boats!) teams competed for national class honors. Here is a summary of what took place on this historic weekend for a total of FOURTEEN races in just three days (my goodness the crews must’ve been exhausted or dizzy from going around the race track so many times!).

Day One
It was a great start for the crew of Dmitry Šunina as they managed to post an 11-2-3-3 to give them a total of 19 pts at the end of the first day to top the leaderboard. Just behind them by three points was a leader of the J/70 class in Russia- Denis Čerevatenko- who’s team collected a 5-8-5-2 for 22 pts.  Then, sitting in third only one point further behind was Team GLEB FETISOVA with a tally of 5-5-11-1 for 23 pts total.  Details and results.

Day Two
After starting out the first day with a 6-10-14-1, it was clear Valeria Kovalenko’s crew on ARTTUBE RUS-1 had to get their “mojo” going.  After their post-race analysis on what to do, they managed to do exactly that on the five-race, very exhausting day two.  Their record speaks for itself, posting an incredibly consistent 3-3-1-3-4 to rocket up the standings and sit atop the leaderboard with a comfortable lead.  Starting out in the silver position on the first day, Denis Čerevatenko’s crew held onto their standing with a strong 8-1-2-6-1.  Then, after two days of racing and nine races, it was the Alexandra Peterson Collective Team that jumped into the third position.  WOW, it was an enormous game of “snakes & ladders” for everyone, including the podium finishers.  Yet, things were going to get even more interesting for the final day.  Details and results.

Day Three
Given more good winds, but quite shifty, as they had been the day before, the protagonists in the Russian J/70 Nationals at the top of the leaderboard did not change. In the end, after posting a closing tally in five more races of 16-1-1-1-2, it was the ARTTUBE RUS-1 Team that won by over 20 pts after 2 discard races.  Valeria Kovalenko’s team of Igor Lisovenko, Alexander Božko and Denis Rozhkov were declared the first Russian J/70 National Champions!

Closing with a 1-4-14-15-6 tally to take the silver was Denis Čerevatenko’ team.  And, taking the bronze with an amazing closing scoreline of 14-2-4-3-1 was the team of Zoran Paunoviča.   Details and results.

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ARTTUBE Wins Italian J/70 Cup- Trieste

CALVI NETWORK Crowned Series Champion
(Trieste, Italy)- The fourth act of the Italian J/70 Cup series took place off the beautiful, exotic eastern Italian Riviera on the Adriatic Sea off the port of Trieste, Italy. Hosting the twenty-boat, four nations fleet (Italy, Poland, Russia, & Switzerland) fleet was the YC Trieste based at Portopiccolo.  The weather Godz were not cooperating at all for this season-ending finale, with just four races counting for the regatta and series totals.

Winning the final event was the Russian team on ARTTUBE RUS-1, skippered by the famous Russian woman helm- Valeria Kovalenko from the Taganrog Sailing Club. Considering the high-level of competition, she posted a remarkably steady scoreline of 1-5-5-2 for 13 pts total.  Taking second was Luca Domenici’s NOTARO TEAM with a 4-4-2-6 tally for 16 pts.  Third was Mauro Brescacin’s SOCIETE NAUTICA GIGNANO with a 15-2-1-3 for 21 pts total.  In fact, tied on points at 21 with Brescacin’s team was the Russian crew of Dmitriy Shunin on GOLDEN WING, the Konakovo River Club team settling for 4th after countback.  Fifth went to Gianfranco Noe’s CALVI NETWORK with a 12-10-4-1 tally for 27 pts.

The final results for the season series (Sanremo, Porto Ercole, Malcesine and Portopiccolo) show that it was the crew of CALVI NETWORK (Gianfranco Noè, Karlo Hmeljak, Giulio Desiderato, Irene Bezzi, Sergio Blosi) that won the 2018 Italian J/70 Cup- a 4 event, 26 race series, for the second consecutive year!

Gianfranco Noè, owner and driver of CALVI NETWORK, commented, "We could not hope for a better result: when at the beginning of the season we started planning, we said it would have been fantastic to put the seal on the circuit also winning the act of Trieste: this event was in fact particularly important for me because these are the waters where I was born and grew up as a sailor. It was a pity that there was no Enfant Terrible to duel with us until the end, because at the beginning of this leg, after twenty-two races, we were only divided by 5 points in the seasonal ranking".

Taking second overall for the series was the two-time European Champion, Claudia Rossi of PETITE TERRIBLE- ADRIA FERRIES.

The European Champions on ENFANT TERRIBLE-ADRIA FERRIES, led by skipper/ owner Alberto Rossi, did not participate in the last act of the circuit, but nevertheless closed the season in third position, thanks to the excellent placings scored during the season, including the victories in Sanremo and Porto Ercole.

LA FEMME TERRIBLE, with co-owners Paolo Tomsic and Mauro Brescacin, and crew of Emanuele Noè, Giuliano Chiandrussi and Francesca Pagan, won the Italian J/70 Cup Corinthians Division.  The silver medal went to NOBERASCO DAS skippered by Alessandro Zampori and third place went to WHY NOT- #SLAM sailed by Alessio Zucchi.  Sailing photo credits- Zerogradinord   Follow Italian J/70 Cup on Facebook here  For more Italian J/70 Cup sailing information Add to Flipboard Magazine.

Women's Surprise @ Russia J/70 Sailing League

(St Petersburg, Russia)- The fourth regatta of the season for the Russian J/70 Sailing League took place in St Petersburg, Russian, with sailing taking place in front of the Peter & Paul Fortress on the Neva River.  Twenty-seven teams participated in the event; including ArtTube RUS1 (Valery Kovalenko), Konakovo River Club (Dmitry Shunin), NAVIGATOR Sailing Team (Igor Rytov), Leviathan (Vadim Yakhinson), Calipso (Maxim Taranov), "Sail Lord- EUROPE" (Vyacheslav Ermolenko), PIRogovo (Alexander Yezhkov), Sailor EUROPE (Sergei Musikhin), Rocknrolla Sailing Team / RUS76 (Andrey Kirilyuk), St. Petersburg Yacht Club Academy of Sailing (Anna Basalkina), Region-23 (Evgeny Nikiforov), Black Sea (Carina Teliants), Navigator Sailing Team (Alexandra Peterson), DC TEAM (Denis Cherevatenko), ZID PRO (Zoran Paunovich), RUS-7 (Igor Ginzburg), X-Fit (Igor Ginzburg), Resourcekomplekt (Alexander Mikhailov), CSKA (Ilya Kozhevnikov), Imperial Yacht Club (Irina Sorokina), Sochi- South Sport (Alexey Krylov), KOMATEK Kochnev), USC (Boris Kucherenko), Parma Lukomorye (Vitaly Tarakanov), East-West (Evgeny Anishev), Skolkovo Sailing Team (Konstantin Umnov), and Yacht Club of St. Petersburg (Sergey Dobrovolsky).

For the first two days, the fleet was blessed with strong winds and sunny skies.  By the final day, an overcast sky with intermittent rains scattered across the northern capital of Russia, but it did not dampen the spirits of the sailors as they enjoyed more great racing in 8-14 kt winds.  Forty-five races in total were run on the windy, choppy river course with each team sailing at least fifteen races.

In the end, it was a surprising outcome for the incredibly competitive fleet at the top of the leaderboard.  Winning the event by just a half point was CALIPSO, skippered by Maxim Taranov, with crew of Vladimir Shishkin, Egor Zuev, Dmitry Kolesnikov and Ilya Polishchuk.  Just missing the gold was a new top woman skipper- Vadim Yahinson; by winning her last race, she led her LEVIATHAN team (Alexander Prokofiev, Maxim and Mikhail Sheremetyev) onto the silver step on the podium.  Rounding out the top three to take the bronze was another woman skipper- Anna Basalkina and her crew of Ivan Zotov, Christian and Yakh Czech on the Y.C. ST PETERSBURG SAILING ACADEMY TEAM.

The balance of the top five included two multi-regatta winners in the series; securing fourth place was Igor Rytov’s NAVIGATOR Sailing Team and in fifth place was yet another woman skipper- ARTTUBE RUS-1’s Valeria Kovalenko with her team of Alexander Bozhko, Igor Lisovenko and Denis Rozhkov.

What was notable about this regatta was that for the first time in the history of Russian sailing and in Russian J/70 Sailing League history, three women skippers were in the top five (two on the podium) and were significant factors in the overall competition all weekend long!

The next regatta will take place on September 20-23 at the unique sailing area in harbor of Vladivostok, Russia- the easternmost point of civilization on the Eur-Asian continent!

Watch these Russian J/70 Sailing League highlight videos on Facebook here:
DAY 1- https://www.facebook.com/russiansailingleague/videos/226085171413460/
DAY 2- https://www.facebook.com/russiansailingleague/videos/481942298986885/
DAY 3- https://www.facebook.com/russiansailingleague/videos/278706162729026/

For more Russian J/70 Sailing League information  SAILING PHOTO CREDITS- Andrey Sheremetyev   For more Russian Sailing Federation League information

ROCKNROLLA Team Wins J/70 Russia league Act III

(Moscow/ Konakovo, Russia)- The third act of the Russian J/70 Sailing League took place at the gorgeous, modern facilities of the Konakovo River Club on the northwest side of Moscow for the twenty-seven teams that are participating in the 2018 season series.  After a very competitive series with one of Russia’s top J/70 teams (Valerya Kovalenko’s ARTTUBE RUS1 sailing team) it was Andrei Kirilyuk’s talented crew on ROCKNROLLA Team that won the honors at Konakovo with his supremely talented crew of Dustin Baldeiva, Alina Dotsenko and Alexei Bushuev.

Day One
On the first day of the competition, the Race Committee managed to run only nine races, which meant that each team had only three races to sail on the day. As has been the case for the two events that were held in Sochi on the Black Sea earlier in Acts I & II, there were some pleasant surprises in the standings.  In the top six after the first day, the leading crews were ROCKNROLLA Sailing Team, DC TEAM, Black Sea Team, Konakovo River Club, Region-23 and Sail Lord-Europe.

Day Two
On the second day, the Race Committee crew managed to run fifteen more races for the 27 teams. At the end of the day, there were 24 races in total for eight teams. The first day leader- ROCKNROLLA Sailing Team continued sail well and confidently. Their skipper- Andrei Kirilyuk- now had 20 points (four 1sts, two 2nds, one 3rd, and 9th place).

Day Three
On the final day, the Race Committee managed to run twelve more races, for a regatta total of 36 races! An amazing achievement considering the tough (e.g. light) weather conditions they had to contend with.  However, only 19 teams had 12 races for the regatta. Therefore, eight teams were not lucky, and had to have an average added to their team scores.

As a result, the “rock stars” on the ROCKNROLLA Sailing Team won- skipper Andrey Kirilyuk, Dustin Baldeiva, Alina Dotsenko and Alexei Bushuev carried the lead from start to finish. Literally - from start to finish! The team won the first race of the regatta and won its final race- a total of six 1sts! Bravo!

In the fight for the podium, there was no question who would get the silver (as they were just two good races shy of winning!).  Valeria Kovalenko’s ARTTUBE RUS1 team of Alexandra Bozhko, Igor Lisovenko and Denis Rozhkov sailed “lights-out” on the last day. On the decisive day, they showed calmness and composure, collecting a 1-2-1-4 to nearly pull-off an overall win. Their silver only confirmed the championship level of the team and, of course, strengthened their leadership in the overall standings of the 2018 season. In the first three regattas, ARTTUBE RUS1 has finished second each time, amazing consistency, and hard to beat!

Finishing third in the Konakovo event was the NAVIGATOR Sailing Team, skippered by Igor Rytov with crew of Anton Sergeev, Konstantin Besputin and Vyacheslav Martynov. It should be noted that the team spent the starting day of the regatta as they were in a coma; an 8-8-3-6 was nothing to write home about, as they say!  However, after that they “woke up” and accumulated five 1sts, a 2nd, and 3rd enroute to a meteoric, phoenix-like rise up the standings from 21st place to third overall in the final tally!  “Holy moon-shot,” said Robin to Batman, “where did those guys come from?!”

Rounding out the top five only one point behind on a tie-breaker at 42 pts each were LEVIATHAN TEAM, skippered by Maxim Titarenko with crew of Vadim Yahinson, Michael and Maxim Sheremetyev and PIROGOVO Team skippered by Yezhkov, the countback going to LEVIATHAN.  Just 0.5 points back was REGION 23 Team skippered by Eugene Nikiforov.  Some great highlight videos from the Russian J/70 Sailing League marketing team on Facebook  YouTube sailing videos-  https://youtu.be/YkugyT-QFnE  and  https://youtu.be/D7u1_FWYQhs   Follow the Russian J/70 Sailing League here on Facebook.  For more Russian J/70 Sailing League information Add to Flipboard Magazine.