July 24, 2019
Cup stays in St. Petersburg!
The Marblehead Trophy 2019 sailing regatta among Dragon yachts has been completed. The main prize of the competition – the challenge silver cup – the whole of the next year will be kept in St. Petersburg. This was made possible thanks to the victory of Dmitry Samokhin, whose crew held on Tuesday three excellent races.
Already in the first of them, the team from the Hercules Yacht Port took a step up in the standings to its highest level, leaving the Portuguese and Pedro Andrade as a great performer in St. Petersburg and his eternal rival friends from the team of Anatoly Loginov. But the current holder of the Cup significantly complicated his position with the results of the race – the fourth place at the finish line threw him from the leading position to the second place, which also now had to be shared with Andrade. True, both pursuers were separated from Samokhin by just one point.
The fourth race had to decide if not everything, then a lot. The starting segment was better for Loginov, who for a long time kept himself in the lead, having a significant advantage over his closest rivals. With a lag, but still after him, Samokhin held the position. But in Andrade, the start of the race was not set, and the Portuguese yachtsman completed the first loop, being only 5-6 places.
However, in the second part of the distance, he began to gradually regain position after position and, having done a great tack of power, went to the top mark as the leader. Now Loginov had to pursue his rival. Samokhin also found himself in a difficult situation, who, in addition to the two teams mentioned above, was also ahead of Italian riders: from a tournament point of view, this did not suit the Russians.
The situation was resolved at the finish: Pedro Andrade came first and scored 8 points, the second was Anatoly Loginov (9 points), the third place was nevertheless pulled out by the team of Dmitry Samokhin, equaling on points with the Portuguese. According to additional indicators, the advantage is Russian yachtsmen. However, at that time it was not so important, because race committee decided to hold another, fifth race. At 16.34 the start was given. There was still time for the race – just enough wind!
Enough, but – only on one loop. The fifth race launched the mechanism of “emissions”, and thanks to this, someone as a result managed to slightly improve their standings. Victory in the final race was won by the team of Gerard Blanca (FRA 409), who eventually completed the regatta in fourth place. However, the trophy itself went to Dmitry Samokhin and his crew, who finished second, but this was enough to keep on the first line of the standings. Pedro Andrade – in second place, Anatoly Loginov – in third.
Bronze medalist of the regatta Anatoly Loginov (RUS 27):
– Because of the third place I was upset, but not much. There are a lot of competitions. Here the competition was serious. Everything is constantly changing. Conditions are not entirely predictable, and this is good. The results are almost the same. Nobody had a clear advantage, and everyone decided one or two points. Do we already think about the championship of Russia? We think we will try!
Silver medalist Regatta Pedro Andrade (POR 84):
– The day today was very unusual, the weather conditions changed very often, which was quite a difficult test for the athletes. The races were interesting because, in fact, no one had an advantage, and everyone started from scratch. For us, the day did not start too well, but still we tried to stay in the game.
The Annapurna and RocknRolla boats are some of the best in the world. It is always hard to compete with them. Very good athletes with great experience, but I can not but note the other teams, whose level is also quite high. And in general in Russia the skill of athletes is impressive.
Why could not win? For us, the starts were not very good, but I think that we had no technical errors. The wind changed very often, it was hard to predict its direction. Anatolia was a little unlucky, and he made a few mistakes. That is what did not give him the opportunity to take first place. Do I want to take revenge? Of course! And the day after tomorrow I will come back for a victory!
Regatta winner Dmitry Samokhin (RUS 76):
– Today was a nervous day. Three races are a lot. In the first we did it all, and we came leaders. In the second race of the day, the correct decision was made to cancel it. For example, we went first with a stock, then the last, also with a stock. In general, there were many permutations, the wind was completely non-racing. And the last race was dramatic. We were fifth or sixth after rounding the top mark, although at first we looked better. And everything decided the full course: we managed to get into second place. It was decided to go in the middle of the distance, and it worked. The wind was dying, so the distance was reduced, it was enough for us to win.
– Full courses on this regatta have solved a lot …
– Yes. And another thing is that in this fleet there are five or six boats on a better course than the others. And only they had real chances to win and come to winners. There were no layers between the leaders, and every point is a big gap. Every mistake, that on the full course, that on tacking, could become decisive.
– You often have to chase with foreign riders in their waters. What was it like here?
– They are quite experienced guys who won competitions of various levels. In various areas, including strangers. There are some very specific conditions, for example, complex currents, and then local riders have a serious advantage. And here we have average conditions. You just have to race well. It was clear that the same Pedro always made the right choice, going in the right direction. There was no situation where he would not know where to go.
– Are you satisfied with the victory?
– Of course. It is very nice to win a trophy that is associated with such a long history. And it is very nice to leave him in St. Petersburg next year. We hope that the new marina of the Hercules Yacht Port will be ready by the time of the regatta.
Winners and laureates of the regatta:
1st place – Dmitry Samokhin (RUS 76, Hercules Yacht Port) – 7 points
2nd place – Pedro Andrade (POR 84, Yacht Club Nautico de Tavira) – 8
3rd place – Anatoly Loginov (RUS 27, Yacht Club of St. Petersburg) – 9
4 place – Gerard Blanc (FRA 409, Yacht club de Cannes) – 16
5th place – Dmitry Bondarenko (GBR 408, Royal Ocean Racing Club) – 17
151 July 24, 2019 # 9298
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