National Sailing League: 'Black Sea' Team from Sochi wins second stage of first division
by Maria Dybunova 24 Apr 2019 23:08 PDT
19-21 April 2019
2019 National Sailing League 2nd stage © Sheremetev Andrey
Russia's most prestigious sailing project, National Sailing League, held regatta in Tuapse from 19th to 21st of April. 150 of the best sailors from Moscow, Saint-Petersburg, Sochi, Tuapse, Krasnodar, Nizhny Novgorod, Yekaterinburg, Chelyabinsk etc. took part in Second Stage of First and Junior Divisions. Administration of region of Tuapse helped with organization of the event. General partner of the project JSC United Shipbuilding Corporation.
The waters of Tuapse sea trade port welcomed the fleet of National Sailing League, and for the first time in the entire history of the project the races took place directly inside the functioning port. This fact imposes a certain imprint on wind conditions and on the schedule of races. During first two race days wind condition were changing and only on the last race day the wind had stabilized, allowing 10 races to be hold. In comparison, during first two days race committee managed to hold only 14 races. Accordingly, each team has competed in 8 races.
From the day one Andrey Malygin's team from Sochi 'Black Sea' took the lead. The team won 50 percent of their races, earning 18 points. 'Akhmat' team from Chechen Republic is the second. Alexander Bozhko's team is only one point behind 'Black Sea'. Navigator yacht-club's team came third. Alexandra Peterson's 'Navigator Trem' showed brilliant performance at the regatta. Bronze medal is a great achievement for the team. 'ZID art Sailing Team' (Evgeniy Neugodnikov, Moscow) came forth for the second time this season. Team from Taganrog 'RUS7' (Sergey Shevtsov) closes the top five.
Passions were running high not only among participants of First Division. 15 young "optimists" were competing in nine races for two days. Polina Radko from Tuapse came third among girls. On the second and the first places are Alice Kukanova and Varvara Iourieva, accordingly, from Sochi. Among boys, young sailors from Gelendzhik: Anatoly Kondratuk and Grigory Elizarov won bronze and silver medal, accordingly. The winner is Artem Cherpita from Sevastopol.
All the winners of every stage of Junior Division will participate in Grand Final at ICC 'Artek'. Sportsmen of First Division will compete at four more stages in Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod, Saint Petersburg and Kaliningrad. The leader of overall classification is 'Akhmat' team. The second is 'Black Sea' from Sochi. The third is 'Navigator Trem' from Moscow. It is clear that this is only the beginning of the season and, as the 5-year history of the League shows, the winner can be determined in the very last race of the final stage.
Sailing races do not end in Tuapse. Teams of Second Division will compete in Tuapse from 26th to 28th of April. Stay tuned.