June 23, 2019
Gold was so close …
The victory of the international crew of the Provezza under the Turkish flag ended the second stage of the 52SuperSeries Royal Cup, which hosted the Spanish Cadiz. According to the results of the competition, the St. Petersburg Yacht Club team, the Battleship, won a bronze medal.
For the Russian team, the prestigious 52SuperSeries Royal Cup medal was the third award won in the TP52 class. Previously, these were two “silver” separate stages in 2016 and 2017.
This season, after the fifth result in the first stage on Father Menorca, “The Battleship” very confidently conducted the second stage of the series, which Cadiz accepted for the first time in history.
Competitions for the prestigious Royal Cup took place mainly in light winds of the order of 10-18 knots. In the five days of the regatta, we managed to hold 10 races, while the “Battleship” only finished once outside the top five. In general, the team of Vladimir Lyubomirova managed to demonstrate stable results.
Moreover, before the start of the final day, the Battleship headed the test. But not everything went smoothly. The advantage of the team under the Russian flag over the closest rivals was minimal – just one point to the award-winning Italian Azzurra and four points to the Turkish Provezza. Considering the absence of the worst result in the Super Series competition, any team from the first to the sixth could become the winner of the stage.
From the first race of the final day, the favorites got involved in a bitter struggle with each other. For the "Battleship" this race was unsuccessful. The team implemented risky tactics at full rate, but if it helped on Friday, it didn’t work on Saturday. As a result – the eighth parish and relocation from the first line to the fourth (and even with the tai-break from the German Platoon). And for the Russian team, and for others, everything was decided by the final, tenth race of the stage.
At this point, the crew of Vladimir Lyubomirov managed to get together and conduct an excellent race. The third finish returned the team to the top three – and even with the equal points with the Italian Azzurra, which, thanks to two victories, won the silver medal. Both crews, both Russian and Italian, lost only one point to the Provezza winner.
“The results speak for themselves: after ten races, the top three were divided by just one point,” comments Vladimir Lyubomirov, the helmsman of the Battleship. – Of course, it is pleasant to win the stage medal after a year of absence from the class, but it is annoying that the first gold medal in the history of the Russian teams at the Super Series stage was literally at arm's length ”.
With the second and first result in the two completed stages, Provezza led the overall 52SuperSeries standings. "Battleship" continues to occupy the fifth line.
The third stage of the 52SuperSeries will take place in Cascais on July 16-20.
Results 52SuperSeries Royal Cup –
100 June 23, 2019 # 9171
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