February 15, 2019
If not for a breakdown …
Valentine's Day was harsh for many of the world's leading crews in the 49th class. The race for survival in the conditions of the strongest wind and ocean waves – this was the starting day of the second stage of the Grand Prix Portugal in the 49th, 49th FX and Nacra 17 classes in Portugal.
The regatta is held in a place called Vilamoura, located on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean.
In the 49th class, 52 strongest crews from 18 European countries, as well as crews from Thailand and Japan, came to the regatta. Among the participants are athletes from the Sailing Academy of the St. Petersburg Yacht Club, Jan Chekh and Ivan Zotov. Recall that in the first stage, which took place in December, the guys became the 19th.
Jan and Ivan shared their impressions of the first day of the regatta and told about the training camp before it.
Jan Čech: “Before the regatta, we had an 8-day training camp with a guest trainer – Pole Tomasz Januszewski, it turned out very fruitful – we received answers to many of our questions. The gathering took place under conditions of weak wind, but by the beginning of the regatta it swelled very well, even too well. ”
Ivan Zotov: “Finally it turned out to hold a full-fledged training camp. We thank the Academy and leadership for Tomasz! We received a lot of information every day, we hope to continue working with him in the future, after the regatta the Pole will have an idea of our level and strengths and strengths and will help us to pull them up.
The starting day of the regatta was not easy for us.
In the first race, because of the coup, the full course missed the opportunity to get into the top 10, finished 11th. During the coup, we have two armor in the grotto struck the luff. I had to go ashore during the second race for repair, as it was impossible to race without armor in such conditions. After replacing the sails on the coast, they returned to the distance in the hope of reaching the third race of the day, but it was canceled. ”
After the 1st day, Ivan and Jan go 31st. The circumstances were more successful for the second Russian crew in the 49th class – Konstantin Nosov and Alexander Gaidaenko, they are located on the 18th line with 14 and 11 parishes.
In the 49FX class is another Russian crew, Zoya Novikova and Diana Sabirova. On the first day, due to the weather conditions, no race took place in this class, as well as in the Nacra17 class.
The competition will last until February 17, follow the results and cheer for our guys!
Link to the official website:
https://www.vilamourasailing.com/portugalgrandprix
Link to results:
http://vilamourasailing.sailti.com/en/default/races/race-resultsall/text/portugal-grand-prix-vilamoura-round-2-en
Evgeny Kitayev,
Press Service of the Academy of Sailing Yacht Club St. Petersburg.
264 February 15, 2019 # 8798
Chief Editor
