Russian Sailor of the Year Award 2012 to Vladimir Liubomirov

by Emma Upton on 29 Nov 2012 The esteemed Russian Sailor of the Year Award 2012 has been won by a victorious Vladimir Liubomirov, Commodore of the Yacht Club of Saint-Petersburg and Skipper of Swan 60, Bronenosec.

The awards ceremony took place in the iconic Russian city of Moscow in the former chocolate factory 'Red October' on Friday 23rd November. The event attracted over 600 guests with the party consisting of sailors, the Russian Yachting Federation, representatives of sponsors, award nominees and award partners. The guests enjoyed an evening of fine dining and socialising before the award ceremony got underway.

On winning the coveted cut-glass ‘Yachtsman of the Year’ award Vladimir Liubomirov commented: 'First of all it is a great honour for me to get this award and it is the perfect end to an unforgettable year. I would like to thank Moscow, Port of Five Seas for organising this event and welcoming all of the sailors from our great country. I am proud to see the citizens of my native Saint Petersburg nominated for many of the awards. We will keep striving for new wins and great results.'

In a touching moment Liubomirov also called his Swan 60, Bronenosec crew up onto the stage whilst announcing to the audience;

'I want you all to see my team, yes it is important to be the skipper but all of this would be impossible without my crew. Thank you guys!'

The Russian Skipper and his crew aboard Swan 60, Bronenosec have had a highly successful year with some outstanding results; including taking first place in the Mini-Maxi Cruising Division at the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup, coming first in the Rolex Swan Cup Maxi Class and winning the inaugural Nord Stream Race 2012.

Liubomirov won the award over finalists Maksim Nikolaev (Moscow) the under 17’s Laser Radial World champion 2012 and Arkadiy Kistanov (Moscow) the World Champion of 2011 in Finn class and in 2012 he became a bronze medalist in the world championship in France and won the Russian championship for the third time.

The Yacht Club of Saint Petersburg also had more to celebrate on the evening with Viktor Los, SPBYC winning the ‘Input in Sailing’ award for his work in founding the youth sailing school 'Parusnik' and organising close to 50 youth racing events. Los’ work highlights a fantastic dedication to the revival of sailing in Russia and underlines the ambitions of the Yacht Club of Saint Petersburg.

Awards also presented on the evening included ‘Yachtswoman of the Year’ which was awarded to Ekaterina Skudina who took fourth place at the Olympic games in match-racing and ‘Sailing Team of the Year’ which was award to team Synergy. The Russian sailing team won the award after becoming 2012 World Champions in the disciplined RC44 match racing.

The award ceremony provided a perfect round up to the 2012 sailing season and the circuit of events dedicated to the 100-year anniversary of Russian Sailing Federation. The Yacht Club of Saint Petersburg and Vladimir Liubomirov are now looking forward to 2013 and the new and exciting challenges ahead.

Event organisers were the Russian Sailing Federation and the magazine Yacht Russia.

Yacht Club of Saint-Petersburg website