In the fight for the cup and medals

July 19, 2019

      In the fight for the cup and medals
      Two large sailing regattas in the Dragon class will be held in St. Petersburg this week. On Sunday, a series of races for the prestigious Marblehead Trophy will start in the Gulf of Finland, after which participants of the Russian Championship will take the distance. Holders of gold medals will be known on July 28.

Marblehead Trophy – one of the oldest awards in the history of sailing. This prestigious trophy – the silver bowl – was established in 1929 as the main prize of a sailing regatta organized by the authorities of the American city of Marblehead in honor of its 300th anniversary. The challenge cup was intended to be the best of the foreign yachts participating in this regatta, therefore already in the first year of its existence it “sailed” to Europe, where it continued to be played annually. Marblehead Trophy races were conceived as club competitions: traditionally, yachts representing different yacht clubs, one of each who submitted an application, participate in them.

The deed of gift (constituent document), written by the founders of the Cup, obliged the organizers to hold a regatta on yachts of a class that would be attractive to foreign participants. Therefore, at some point, the prize began to be played out in the Dragon class that had gained popularity by that time. He remains "dragon" to this day, noting his venerable, already 90 years of age.

Last season, the victory in the Marblehead Trophy (regatta held in Denmark) was won by Anatoly Loginov, who took the cup to Russia and will now defend it on behalf of the St. Petersburg Yacht Club – the organizer of the upcoming competitions. In the preliminary application for participation in the regatta – the names of twenty yacht clubs from Russia, Great Britain, Italy, Latvia, Portugal, Finland and Estonia. Who of them will get the trophy will be known on Tuesday, July 23.

On the second day after the presentation of the Marblehead Trophy, the participants of the Russian Championship will take the distance in the Gulf. Among them, of course, there will be those who have just fought for the historic cup, including the crew of Anatoly Loginov. We will see last year’s races and gold medalists – the team of Dmitry Samokhin, the team of the Chairman of the International Association of Dragon Class, Vasily Senatorov, as well as other leading Russian yachtsmen.

Foreign riders are allowed to participate in the regatta (in a separate standings), and this year several foreign teams will compete with athletes from Russia at once. This includes Gerard Blanc, President of the French Association of the Dragon Class, Gerard Blanc, winner of the 2019 Gold Cup, and Pedro Rebelo de Andrade, Portuguese President, and Giuseppe Zaoli, President of the San Remo Yacht Club, and guests from Latvia and Estonia. The first championship race will be held on Thursday, July 25, and its winner will be known next Sunday.

The championship is held by the Russian Dragon Yacht Association with the support of the St. Petersburg Yacht Club, the All-Russian Sailing Federation and the St. Petersburg Sailing Union.

The general sponsor of the competition is Gazprom.

Official sponsor – BPC Group of Companies

96 July 19, 2019 # 9274
                                                    
      
    

Chief Editor

Cupfightmedals