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 informationAdd to Flipboard Magazine.


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