Met with towels and glasses of wine

May 25, 20195min read

April 11, 2019

Met with towels and glasses of wine
On Wednesday, April 10, in Montenegro, in the marina of Porto Montenegro, the new season started in the RC44 class. Here is what Elena Otekina specifically for Yacht Russia:

The calm, which did not allow an official training race to be held on the eve, nearly ruined the first racing day of the first regatta of the year – 44Cup Porto Montenegro. But the head of the Racing Committee, the famous Peter Reggio, succeeded in the impossible: after an hour and a half of waiting, two successful races were held on two local southwestern reinforcements with a transition to the south wind, which the locals call South.

The wind, which reached 8-15 knots at the gusts, turned out to be quite stable, except for a large approach in the last full course of the second race, which greatly changed the position of the teams in the table. Through the incessant downpour that turned into hail, the nine participating teams made their way to signs. According to the frozen and completely wet participants, it was not always possible to discern where to go through the streams of rain that covered the face.

Fortunately, the hospitality of the host country – Porto Montenegro – knew no bounds: on the shore, the teams were carefully greeted by the staff of the Regent-hotel with towels and glasses of wine at the ready, trying to dry and warm everyone immediately. And this cold wet day ended with a wonderful cocktail party in the Italian garden of the hotel.

At the end of the first day, Slovenian Ceeref Igor La (3-1) leads the pack, and Russian Team Nika Vladimir Proshikhina is just one point behind her, serving in the new season with a new tactician and pitman. The tactics of the Oracle team at the last America's Cup, the Olympic gold medalist in the Laser class Australian Tom Slingsby, came to the place of the past to prepare for the next America's Cup, Dina Barker. At the same time, an experienced RC44 class driver Nikolai Kornev became a pitman, thus strengthening the Russian part of the international crew of Niki.

Having won the first race after a great start, in the second race, “Nika” at the start led to the Tavatui left-track, but Vladimir Proshikhina’s team managed to turn around, quickly go under the fleet and go to the advantageous right side, where soon received a good rush. "Nika" was the second, but in the second full course the wind gave way to the left, and the Russian boat was on the right side and was in an unfavorable position, finishing the 4th.

On this impulse, Ceeref managed to rise from the third place to the first, “The Battleship” escaped from the penultimate place to the 5th place, and the newcomers of the class – to the Yekaterinburg team “Tavatuy” – were a little unlucky – from the 5th place it dropped to the 6th.

According to Vladimir Prosikhin, he is very pleased with the outcome of the first day and the communication that has taken shape in the new crew. Working with a new star tactician is comfortable for him, and returning to the races in his favorite class after a long break was a real joy. Tom Slingsby, in turn, noted that he fit in perfectly with the new crew, that he was very happy to return to the best, in his opinion, owners-helmsman class, and very much appreciated Prosykhin's abilities as a helmsman.

The Tavatuy team of Pavel Kuznetsov, who joined the class this season, with Yevgeny Neugodnikov as a tactic, spent the first day quite well and took the 6th final position with the 5th and 6th parishes. According to the tactician, he is satisfied with the first day. “There were difficult conditions, but the judges did a good job: only the wind started – they immediately gave a start. In such weather conditions we got just perfect, interesting, high-speed two races. In terms of the crew’s work, it was a positive day. Everything worked, there was no panic, I liked everything. We went in the middle of the fleet, in the fight, some kind of martial arts won, some lost. The main thing is that we can win, the working situation, and, of course, it helps a lot that there is no wave. ”

In the first race, “Tavatuy” started well from the ship, went 4th, and only at the end missed one boat. In the second race, “having hacked it up” with “Nika”, the crew lost time and started in the second echelon. However, the Ekaterinburg boat was able to come to the first rounding of the 5th and finished the race of the 6th, without a little guessing with a profitable side.

The battleship team representing the St. Petersburg Yacht Club, which this season is once again under the control of Cyril Frolov and Cameron Dunn’s tactics, is in 7th place on the day’s results. The team failed to start the first race, the boat missed the call and immediately lost three hulls. To correct the situation in such a highly competitive fleet, what is RC44, the crew has failed, and the "Battleship" finished last.

In the second race, the Russian boat hit the “sandwich” between the two boats and, losing speed, was the last. However, on the last full course, the team successfully went to the left side, overtook three boats and was able to get to the finish line at the 5th place.
Over the bay of Kotor there are still heavy clouds and rain, at night a very strong thunderstorm passed over Tivat, and the forecast for the second racing day is again not very comforting.

Results after the first day of racing –
https://www.44cup.org/results

Photo by the author.

Compositions of teams representing Russia this season (from the official 44cup official):

Bronenosec Sailing Team (RUS18):

Kirill Frolov (RUS) Owner / Driver
Cameron Dunn (NZL) – Tactician
Alex Kulakov (RUS) – Bow
Evgenii Deev (RUS) – Headsail Trimmer
Egor Ignatenko (RUS)
Alexandr Ekimov (RUS) – Main trimmer
Pietro Mantovani – Boat captain
Pavel Karachov (RUS) – Offside Trimmer

Tavatuy Sailing Team (RUS21):

Pavel Kuznetsov (RUS) – Owner / Driver
Evgeny Neugodnikov (RUS) – Tactician
Konstantin Besputin (RUS) – Main trimmer
Anton Sergeev (RUS) – Headsail Trimmer
Maxim Sheremetyev (RUS) – Offside Trimmer
Valeriy Zatsarinskiy (RUS) – Pit
Oleg Krivov (RUS) – Grinder
Egor Larionov (RUS) – Bow

Team Nika (RUS10):

Vladimir Prosikhin (RUS) – Owner / Driver
Tom Slingsby (AUS) – Tactician
Tomaz Copi (SLO) – Main trimmer
Zachary Hurst (NZL) – Headsail Trimmer
Mitja Margon (SLO) – Offside Trimmer
Nikolay Kornev (RUS) – Pit
Iztok Knafelc (SLO) – Grinder
Jeremy Lomas (NZL) – Bow

170 April 11, 2019 # 8914

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