June 12, 2019
Give "Fazisi" a new life!
Yury Ravlushko, who a year ago saved the famous yacht from destruction, published a letter on the web to the Russian prime minister.
Dear DA Medvedev, Mr. Prime Minister!
I appeal to you with a request to assist in saving the national sports relic – the sailing racing yacht Fazisi. This yacht, being built in Poti (Georgia), was the result of the joint work of yachtsmen from different Soviet republics (RSFSR, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine, Belarus) and became the only Soviet yacht in history that participated in the world full crews of the Whitbread Round the World Race (later known as the Volvo Ocean Race, and today the Ocean Race).
After the collapse of the USSR, the yacht was in the hands of Polish owners and was actively used by them to train young athletes. The hurricane caught in Fazisi in the Caribbean islands almost destroyed the boat that they wanted to send for scrap.
I saved a Soviet sporting relic from destiny prepared for it, having bought it, and I am trying to restore the vessel as much as possible. But this work – including financially – is very heavy for a private individual. At the same time, both for state and for government-affiliated commercial structures, the need for sponsorship costs for the restoration of Fazisi is whether it is a complete reconstruction of the yacht and turning it into a racing training vessel for young athletes, or whether setting somewhere on the embankment of Petersburg – look quite moderate.
The revival of this racing legend, in the design of which one of the famous designers of Leningrad took part, Oleg Larionov, will undoubtedly contribute to increasing the interest of citizens to our own sports history, to sailing in general. It seems that in the form of a monument ship, a yacht could become an ornament to the embankment of any St. Petersburg yacht club, and could also naturally fit into the structure of the park of the 300th anniversary of St. Petersburg.
Restored in the form of a race, she could have long attracted young athletes who dream of comparing with the great yachtsmen of the past.
I ask you, Mr. Prime Minister, to render me possible assistance in preserving and restoring this unique sports equipment of the times of our great common country – the USSR.
Respectfully,
Yuri Ravlushko,
Yachtsman, formerly a member of the Fazisi team
280 June 12, 2019 # 9118
Chief Editor
