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Battleship wins first World Cup victory
On August 28, in Puerto Portals in Mallorca, the world championships in the TP52 class were resumed within the 52SuperSeries. According to the results of the three races held, the team of the Battleship Yacht Club of St. Petersburg rose to third place.
A thunderstorm that had passed a day earlier with rain and a squally wind left Puerto Portals an excellent “sailing” weather: 12-15 knots of wind and a practically flat surface of the sea. Using this chance, the judges decided to make up for the forced day of inactivity, having spent three races instead of the usual two. Thus, the offset of the World Cup already has seven races – a serious baggage of points before the decisive day of the competition.
At the same time, today has demonstrated that the competition is really in full swing. Using a pause in the race, Turkish Provezza installed and set up a spare mast – the incredible work of the team’s logistics service. Even more Turkish-British team surprised with two parishes in the top three today. Given the change in the most important element of the mast, the result is simply unbelievable. Let the team close the standings due to two days of absence from the race, their desire for victory deserves admiration.
Another “child prodigy” of the day was the German Platoon, which won two of the three races. The vice champions of the 2018 season, the Muller-Spreyer crew was considered one of the favorites of the competition and for all days Platoon kept in the top three, but the team really shot at the right moment: before the final races.
The break in competitions caused by the storm also benefited the Russian team. "Battleship" in the first race of the day forced to draw attention to itself. At the first sign the team was only the seventh, and at the third – the third! A bit unlucky at the finish, just a minute before crossing the line, a group of rivals on the opposite tack accelerated and five teams immediately rolled into the finish line. It’s annoying, but the crew of Vladmir Lyubomrov was only sixth.
In the second race, the Battleship again takes a conservative start in the center of the line, but on the mark the team of the St. Petersburg Yacht Club was the first. Unfortunately, it was not possible to maintain leadership – only the third parish.
It seemed that after two hours of racing, the forces were no longer the same, but the Battleship was again surprising. After another quiet start, the team reaches the seventh sign. After the first lee segment, the Battleship is already the sixth – that is, it remains in the game. The decisive part of this race was the second tack. It was here that the calculation of the tactics of Morgan Larson worked: in the third round, the Battleship is in the lead with a noticeable margin. And most importantly: the crew of Vladmir Lyubomirov managed to maintain their position and achieve the first victory in the race of the current World Cup!
“The day was really difficult, once again proving that to lead does not mean to win, just like a bad start to the race does not mean its end,” says Vladimir Lyubomirov. – The team’s potential was finally realized, we climbed into the top three and tomorrow we will fight for medals. It was the task of the day and we successfully solved it. ”
Indeed, now the chances of winning a place on the podium of the World Cup look realistic. "Battleship" from the seventh position rose to third. Let the new leaders of the standings, the German Platoon, have quite comfortable 11 points advantages, Azzurra (Italy) has an already more modest advantage – only four points. On the other hand, the British Alegre is two points behind the Armadillo and this is really dangerous.
It is worth considering that the stakes in current competitions are much higher than the medals of the World Cup. In the current situation, the Battleship has good chances to enter the top three and the overall standings of the season. Now the team of the Yacht Club of St. Petersburg from the first three 52SuperSeries of the 2019 season is only three points apart! All will be decided by the two final races on August 29.
Video – https://youtu.be/JFy7-v20qPE
Live broadcast of the competition: https://youtu.be/iC9ijj3t0Lw
World Cup Results: http://www.52superseries.com/
52SuperSeries Season Results: http://www.52superseries.com/events/2019/all
35 Today # 9418
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