News

Every single one from “Anna” to “Peter”

To save the precious time, and most importantly, not to miss the fair wind, almost right after the captain meeting where the exact starting race position to Mariehamn was set, yachts left the hospitable Sandhamn marina.

It took about an hour to get to the starting location as it was important to move out the area of a local archipelago full of reefs and cays in order to start the race on open water. The Referee Yacht located itself in the area of the Stenkobbsgrund lighthouse (59 25’8 N, 18 56’7 E) and engaged the starting procedure.

Upon starting to compete for a more advantageous position, having adjusted their equipment and raised their competitive spirit two groups parted their way. Most part of the fleet was focused on the lighthouse region, planning to start with starboard tack. Here is Gloria («Ust-Luga Company»), Seventh Wave (“Rosterminalugol”), Dixie (The Oktyabrskaya Railway - “Russian Railways” PJSC branch) and Galatea («Baltinvestbank») feeling a large wind potential and considering the length of the starting line, is about to start under the wing of the official boat.

In fact, their plan of action is well understood, but here comes “Anna” (“SMM”) mixing everything up. Quickly navigating its way, right at the start it leaves the fleet behind, appearing on the way yacht with larboard tack way, making its tack under the stern losing speed. “Anna” itself having perfectly executed the turn, started as number one, leaving the others far behind. Gloria, Seventh Wave и Solitaire (FSUE “Rosmorport”) came as top three leaving everyone behind. The heavy Peter I was the last yacht that took start and this day was obviously not good enough to supply the wind the yacht required.

Despite all the attempts that the judged made to start the race as soon as possible, north was rapidly losing its power. Roaming between the islands, it was leaving vast zero wind spots on the way of other racers catching four ships. After a quick radio discussion, the race committee made a decision to move the final destination point to the midway of the planned route and what is when “Anna”, showing its top sea performance came in. No surprise here – this year the ship is ready to take part in the famous Fastnet Race that is held England.

The rest of the yachts finished significantly later, however this is not something that signifies the lack of sprit. On the contrary – all teams did their best to win; for instance if you take a look at the results, you will notice that only nine minutes separate the yacht that finished after “Anna”. And the fight for the finalists was definitely worth witnessing: FSUE “Rosmorport”, JSC “Rosterminalugol” and GC “Nord” crews sorted all the things out only towards the end of the race, leaving just a few second gap between them. For “Nord” this is the first race, but the crew has already demonstrated themselves as a strong team with an abundance of energy and competitive spirit during the race.

With an advantage of just one minute Dixie (The Oktyabrskaya Railway - “Russian Railways” PJSC branch) and Galatea («Baltinvestbank») took over Evita (Ust-Luga merchant sea port) and Gloria («Ust-Luga Company») respectively. After a difficult start, Mining Technologies LLC showed an exceptional perseverance in its effort to leave the competitors behind including the veterans “Avos"” represented by JSC “PUL Trans”. Taking into consideration the handicap that was given, Peter’s I standing does not seem all that hopeless. In a short interview after the race, a sailing master, Danil Gavrilov notes: “First and foremost, for us “Ust-Luga Cup” is a promotional event for as soon as we are back to Saint-Petersburg, we are setting our course to an arctic expedition. We do realize that the only way we could win in this regatta is with a help a strong wind - our ship is too heavy, but that does not mean that we are giving up and are not going to stay competitive towards our enemies.

After accounting for handicap, the first race results look as follow

1. “Anna” (“SMM”)
2. “Solitaire” (“Rosmorport”)
3. “Sanuk” (“GC “Nord”)
4. “Seventh Wave” ( “Rosterminalugol”)
5. “Evita” (“CSP Ust-Luga”)
6. “Dixie” (“Russian Railways” - “Krasnaya Strela”)
7. “Galatea” (“Baltinvestbank”)
8. “Peter I” (“Mining Technologies” - RUSARC)
9. “Gloria” (“Ust-Luga Company”)
10. “Dolorosa” (“PUL trans”– “Avos’”)

All news →