“I wanted to scream to the coach”

August 10, 20193min read

August 8, 2019

“I wanted to scream to the coach”
In St. Petersburg, the qualification of the world championship in the Olympic class RS: X among juniors has completed. On August 8, the final series of races starts.

After the generous strong and zasty wind of the first day on Wednesday, the wind died down a little. Instead of 15 knots, windsurfers raced with an east wind of 5-7 knots. Despite not the most favorable weather conditions for the races, the judges held all three scheduled starts and completed the qualification.

Versatility is one of the main advantages of the RS: X Olympic class. These boards are suitable for both planing modes and for light winds. If on the first day of the World Cup windsurfers cheerfully walked on planing, today they had to demonstrate their skills in pumping.

The strongest in the men's standings were the Israelis. Iyal Yohai Zror and Daniel Tashtash were among the leaders after the first race day and confirmed their high level in the second. Zrora has 10 points and Tashtash has 13. Among the pursuers are Greek Alexandros Kalpoyannakis, Frenchman Mathis Guillot, Italian Edoardo Tanas and Israeli Reuven Hillel (all – 17 points).

Alexandros is the winner of the Youth Olympics, the World and European Junior Championships in the Techno 293 class (preparatory class before RS: X). Now he is trying to win champion titles in the Olympic class. In between competitions, Kalpoyannakis is advised by the 1996 Olympic windsurfing champion Nikos Kaklamanakis. Alexandros follows in the footsteps of his great mentor.

– Today was too weak and changeable wind. It was difficult, but I'm ready for any weather conditions, says the Greek windsurfer. – A good racer must be stable and not dependent on the weather. In the second race, I made several wrong decisions. Walked on the left side, and it was absolutely wrong. In the last race I again went to the left, but this time everything went well. My strategy is not to fail and be stable. On the water, it makes no sense to choose any particular tactic, because you must make the decision here and now.

Among the women, the Frenchwoman Manon Pianaza leads (14 points), followed by the Israeli women Naama Greenberg and Lina Geva (both 17).

On the second competition day, Russian fans pleased the girls. First, Muscovite Yana Reznikova (fourth place) won the first race, and at the next start, the athlete of the Academy of Sailing of the St. Petersburg Yacht Club Anastasia Shchedrina won (seventh place). The Petersburger was the leader on each sign and kept the advantage until the finish. Anastasia moved into RS: X class less than a year ago and was already able to achieve the highest result in her first serious competition! For her success, she thanks the coaches of the Academy – Ivan Petrov and Ivan Shokhov.

“I was so surprised that when I got on the boat, I wanted to shout to the coach:“ Yes, I am the first! Hurray! ”Says Anastasia. – During the race I tried to control every opponent. The most difficult thing is to control them on the second tack when they diverged to the right and left sides. I analyzed which side is more profitable and went there. On every sign I was first. Before the World Cup, we did a lot of work on pumping and board maintenance. It’s very cool that the coaches supported me. Ivan Vladimirovich reminded me that I can do this, that I have five years behind me. Ivan Sergeyevich spoke about tactics and analyzed every race.

At the end of the qualification (six races) among men, windsurfers were divided into two fleets – gold and silver. 35 best racers, including Russian Anton Tokarev (26th), got into the golden fleet. Women continue to race in a separate fleet.

Alexey Zhirov,

PR-director of the Yacht Club of St. Petersburg.

The official website of the competition –

http://www.rsxclass.org/youthworlds2019

http://rsx.spbyc.ru/ru

Results –

https://www.sailing-academy.ru/regatyi/2019/rsx-youth-world-championship-2019

118 August 8, 2019 # 9348

Chief Editor