World-famous sailing race “Mini Transat 2019” (Mini Transat) starts September 22 in the French La Rochelle. This year, as we have told, will involve at once two Russians – Irina Gracheva and Fyodor Druzhinin.
On yachts with a length of only 6.5 meters, the athletes have to overcome a couple of more than 4000 nautical miles, including 1350 miles on the first stage to the Canary Islands and 2700 miles – crossing the Atlantic.
Note that the performance of Irina in the famous transatlantic sailing race opens a new Chapter in the history of sailing in our country and in the history of the competition: this is still none of the Russian yachtswoman solo Atlantic ocean crossing.
In this season of “Mini-Transat” turns 42 years: in the fall of 1977, twenty-four sailors with a 6.5-metre yacht for the first time arrived at the start a single transatlantic race. In the year of the fortieth anniversary of the regatta it was attended by more than 80 athletes, and 11 of them were women. So happened that fashion today set the French the majority of the racers come from France. The only Russian participant of “Mini-Transat” is still considered Yuri Firsov, which was held the race in 2015.
In the race “Mini Transat” attended the ultra-modern high-speed boats built to class rules Mini 650. Under these rules, they are divided into two divisions – production boats and the prototypes (experimental designs). Interestingly, Irina Gracheva and Fyodor Druzhinin are in different groups, so the Russian fans will have the opportunity to become familiar with the yacht represented in both categories.
The previous year demanded that future participants of the “Mini-Transat 2019” the expenditure of substantial resources – physical, moral, financial. Preparation and repair of boats, the qualifying regattas and training transitions, hundreds of hours spent at sea in the struggle against the elements, loneliness, rivals. In the remaining before the start of the months, the Russians still have about 2.5 thousand miles, speaking in various European regattas and competitions in yachting singles. In the ambitious plans of Irina and Fedor rely on the help of friends and patrons, creating around himself a team of associates and partners who can implement your plans.
To date, the yachtsmen held a lot of preparatory work, the results of which will form the basis of their participation in the decisive race. Let’s hope for our fellow successful participation.
Irina Gracheva, holder of the speed record for transatlantic crossing on the yacht Class 40, party “Mini-Transat 2019”:
“For me, “Mini-Transat” is a real challenge and the opportunity to test our strength and to do something worthwhile. From the very beginning of the project I set myself quite an ambitious goal. But the reality was even tougher than I had expected: sometimes it seemed that to do it is simply impossible… Helped perseverance and really hard work. After completing the qualifying test, I’m officially registered to participate in the race, and now are doing everything they can to gain more experience and go through it with dignity. I’m lucky to have great support from family, friends, and all those who believed in me. My team is open for cooperation and ready to take your project strong and brave partners.”
Fyodor Druzhinin, a member of the “Mini-Transat 2019”:
“Each athlete has his own dream. For some it’s the Olympics, for someone climbing Everest. “Mini-Transat” is the most important race of my career a sailor, and I am very grateful for the help and support of my friends and partners Russian company ASSIST educational Association and International Yacht Training. For us, the Russian participants, the preparation for the race is complicated by the fact that we removed from the main area of training the race – the Atlantic. Therefore, our two-year training plan has long been turned into a complicated puzzle. But I am sure that we will solve all the problems and all the tasks can handle. In another way can not be!”
Important additional information:
Irina Gracheva +7 911 9894038, [email protected]
Fyodor Druzhinin: +7 911 9395130, [email protected]
