The result of the third qualifying stage in St. Petersburg: the first two places in the account teams from Germany; two Russian teams qualified to the final of the Sailing Champions League 2019!
Qualifying SCL 2019 was the last point of the selection before the finals in the Swiss resort of St. Moritz. The stakes in this competition was incredibly high, so the stage was very stressful battle. On the first day of the yachtsmen poured rain, and secondly – because of the calm and the race Committee managed to conduct only four races, and the final day gave athletes 9 starts.
At the end of the regatta for all teams passed on 8 races (24 off for three days). Weak zahoditi the wind, constantly changing its direction, as well as the strong current of the river Neva did this step completely unpredictable, which maximally intensify the struggle in the leading group.
The tradition of the German teams to win the stage in Saint-Petersburg – continued. Two of the club Bayerischer Yacht-Club Starnberger lake (South of Munich) and the club from Bremen Wassersport-Verein Hemelingen – located on the first and second locations.
Julian Autenrieth, Bayerischer Yacht-Club (BYC):
“The waters are very demanding to the racers: during the changing of the wind… all were in same conditions. We had a very good start, that helped a lot. Place for all races is great: the city centre beach in the city center. The first day was pretty nervous, but then we gathered and established teamwork. Well, that all ends well!”
The teams of the Yacht club of Saint-Petersburg on this day no luck. First, the Academy team took off on a false start and got OCS (race was not read), in the next race our guys punished the penalty at the last top mark, and then a turn of 360 degrees rejected team Anna Basalkina up a few notches – it was on the 8th place.
The second team that gets the wildcard as the team of the hosting yacht club, were gathered young and promising sportsmen of the Academy of sailing. The steering team became the youngest medalist Artem Sudakov, tactician – Daniel Banan. In the last race of the day racing the Committee took the decision to false start the team, but the guys protested, since according to the tracker, and according to video from the drone of a false start was not. According to the results of analysis of a protest the officiating crew left the team to 6th place (if the false start is declared invalid, the guys would move to the 2nd position). Thus, the team was qualified for the final.
Artem Sudakov, the team captain of the Yacht club of Saint-Petersburg:
“We have a very good team, we just one workout were able to rebuild communication. Luck was on our side, everything worked smoothly, so at some point, could win. Yes, we are the youngest team… Well, if not for the decision of the race Committee, would be the second.”
Following the regatta was a great tetroxide in distilled crew yacht Cuba Pirogovo under the leadership of Vladimir Lipavsky, our famous match racer, the winner of the finals of the League of Nations and a silver medalist of the final SCL 2017. The guys made it to the finals and finished the regatta in 4th position.
Vladimir Lipavsky, the captain of the team “Pirogovo”:
“The conditions are difficult, this time the course wasn’t particularly mad, usually it is stronger. But due to the fact that he was very weak wind and it was changeable – this has created great difficulties, and conditions constantly changing. Just get used to a particular configuration – how everything is changing and we need to re-calculate the time. In Switzerland we will. While betting is pointless, St. Moritz is a small lake, where he can blow out of each corner, so it’s not yet predictable”.
Alex Fat
PR-Director of the Yacht club of Saint-Petersburg
The General partner of the qualifying stage of the Sailing Champions League 2019 in Saint-Petersburg – PJSC “Gazprom”.
