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The old city is waiting for Regatta

On Monday, June 10the the international sailing regatta “Ust-Luga Cup” came to the southern shores of the Baltic. After a 40-mile race along the Tallinn-Hanko route, its fleet moored almost in the center of the Estonian capital - the sailing harbor Old City Marina.

It has almost been a week since the very first race took its start in Stockholm. On the second day of the competition the weather started to dictate its own terms brining a sudden weather change that necessitated Cup organizers to hold a series of short races on each stage instead of the planned five long racing passages. Above all, a mooring at port of Ust-Luga has been taken off the list and a decision to replace this element of the program with the last race that will be taking place in Tallinn Bay was made.

The regatta participants, most of whom are still new to sailing, did an excellent job. For the majority, it took only a few races to better get used to each other’s team work ethic and quickly get into the fast pace racing rhythm along the way acquiring all the required skills to gain a complete control of the vessel. Leaving astern the hospitable ports of Sweden, cozy harbors of The Åland Islands and skerries of Finland, just a couple of waypoints keep us away from final stage of the competition – the last days of the race.

Obviously, today it is still too early to sum up the results of entire event; however, it is important to note the exceptional level of desire, diligence and passion that the amateur sailors have been demonstrating consideration that for the majority of them, this kind of event is a totally new experience.
The leaders of the fleet – the “SMM “ crew of yacht “Anna” set tone for the rest of the competition, clearly demonstrating the skill level that can be achieved by being fully dedicating to sailing and taking enough time to get ready for the race. The entire fleet of “Ust-Luga Cup” wishes their fellow competitors a successful performance at the famous regatta Fastnet Race in which “Anna” is taking part in early August.

Many participants of the regatta managed to set themselves apart by demonstrating a healthy competitive spirit – “Rosterminalugol”, “Rosmorport”, “RZD” team – “Krasnaya strela” and “Ust-Luga Company” are all among the finalists fighting for the victory. But this does not mean that the others have quietly moved back to the background. “Avos” (“PUL trans “), “Baltinvestbank”, “CSP Ust-Luga” and “Nord” also imposed threats to their more successful regatta fellows. This is not surprising that not all teams gave equal chances for success: various skills of crews, racing of experience and vessel characteristics. Even the heavy Arctic yacht “Peter I” whose performance characteristics, frankly speaking, give it little chance of providing a fair competition to the rest of the regatta fleet, has never given up a single fight in every race it has been a part of.

The racing passage Hanko-Tallinn, another stage of regatta which ended late on Monday night, brought the first victory to the “Rosmorport” team. Despite the fact that, once again, “Anna” came first, after ranking and performance handicap adjustment, it was left in the second position. This success let “Rosmorport” move up the tournament schedule and get ahead of its immediate rival -”Rosterminalugol” team.

Team rankings as of 10.06.2013:

1. “Anna” (“SMM”), 6 points
2. “Solitaire” (“Rosmorport”), 17 points
3. “Seventh Wave” (“Rosterminalugol”), 18 points
4. “Gloria» (“Ust-Luga Company”), 28 points
5. “Dixie» (“RZD” team – “Krasnaya Strela”), 30 points
6. “Dolorosa» (“PUL Trans”– “Avos”), 32 points
7. “Sanuk» (“Nord”), 35 points
8. “Galatea» (“Baltinvestbank”), 40 points
9. “Evita» (“CSP Ust-Luga”), 45 points
10.“Peter I” (“Mining Technologies” – RUSARC), 55 points

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