Yesterday
Racing with an unpredictable result
The first day of the championship of Russia in the class "Dragon", which started on Thursday in St. Petersburg, turned out to be rich and spectacular.
According to the website http://russiandragon.ru, a good fresh breeze established in the eastern part of the Gulf of Finland allowed the Race Committee to conduct three full-fledged races. Each of them went through its own, completely unpredictable scenario.
The first start was better with RUS27 Anatoly Loginov’s success, and the Annapurna yacht reached the top mark already. The pursuit succeeded more successfully than the others by Dmitriy Samokhin, who throughout the distance did not abandon attempts to overtake his opponent. His team was especially close to success at the end of the first loop, when, almost simultaneously with the opponent, it circled the bottom mark.
On the second tack, the team Pedro Andrade left the most vivid impression of himself, brilliantly proven in the races of the Marblehead Trophy regatta, which ended on the eve in St. Petersburg. Starting the rise to the top mark from the 10th position, the Portuguese rider finished it for the fourth! However, the finish was not so optimistic for the Portuguese: the seventh place for a rider of his level can hardly be considered successful. And the victory was celebrated by Anatoly Loginov. Dmitry Samokhin remained in second place, Sergey Borodinov scored three points in this race.
The next race started at 13.43 in practically unchanged wind conditions. Lavirovka ended quite unexpectedly for those who in recent days have become accustomed to the leadership of the teams of Samokhin, Loginov and Andrade. The Estonians were the first to sign out of the Tallinn Kalev Yacht Club (EST 5), followed by the fordwind racers RUS 84 (Sergey Bakharev). In the first five, this stage also included RUS 55 (Yuri Kulikov), RUS 34 (Vasily Senatorov), EST 17 (Eduard Gorbunov). And the aforementioned Dmitry Samokhin, Anatoly Loginov and Pedro Andrade occupied at that time only 7, 10 and 12 positions, respectively. What an unexpected waste on the part of multiple national championship winners!
However, the second tacking cardinally changed the alignment at the race distance, bringing several teams back to life. Dmitry Samokhin made the brightest comeback, getting to the second position from the seventh place and rushing after the race leaders – the team of Yuri Kulikov. Mikhail Senatorov came third on the mark, but the Estonians had to fight not for leadership, but for the middle of the top ten, where they were joined by Victor Fogelson and – attention! – Pedro Andrade.
The final stretch (like the entire second loop) was truly the brightest manifestation of the skill of Dmitry Samokhin’s riders. The team managed to win back 6 places from the opponents and finish the race first. Mikhail Senatorov also performed well, becoming the second in the end. Yuri Kulikov was content with third place. But on the fourth position still escaped the Portuguese crew. He, we recall, had to get up from the 12th place. That failed Anatoly Loginov, who this time recorded in his passive 9 points.
In the third and final race of the day, immediately after the start, the Estonian submarine EST 5 (Aleksey Zhigadlo) and the Russian RUS 13 collided, causing Estonians to be damaged and out of the race. Acknowledging their guilt for what happened, the yachtsmen from the team of Vladimir Loginov left the race. The whole race was confidently leading and with a large margin finished Anatoly Loginov. The teams for LAT 3 (Anna Basalkina), RUS 76 (Dmitry Samokhin), RUS 31 (Mikhail Senatorov) and POR 84 (Pedro Andrade), RUS 35 ( Victor Fogelson). As a result, Dmitry Samokhin was second at the finish, third place went to Mikhail Senatorov. Victor Fogelson finished fourth in the race, Pedro Andrade finished fifth.
According to the results of the day, Dmitry Samokhin is in the lead (5 points), Anatoly Loginov is second (11), Pedro Andrade is on the third line of the tournament table (16). Here's how the racers themselves evaluate their performance.
Dmitry Samokhin (RUS 76):
– The fight today was serious. Three races are not easy both physically and psychologically. We tried to maintain concentration. The wind was varied – with very large approaches, with strengthenings and weaknesses. Understand that in the course of the race there will be many permutations, and you need to keep your presence of mind and work to the end.
– What do you think about rivals?
– Anatoly Loginov spoke very well today. The first two wards. It should be noted, and Mikhail Senatorov – the boat has excellent speed, the crew made the right decisions, it was interesting to chase with them. Pedro Andrade walked steadily, showed good results, but he had to extricate himself from difficult situations. I think that all leaders are in good shape and it will be interesting.
Anatoly Loginov (RUS 27):
– The first two wards and unexpectedly low results in the second race. What happened?
– We got a small conflict. One of the boats unexpectedly and without reason twisted on us. I had to turn it off, but then they could not return to the fight normally. Well, there will be more races ahead …
Pedro Andrade (POR 84):
– The day was hard enough for us. We often made the wrong decisions, which turned out to be not in the best position. The races were unpredictable, but very interesting. Yes, we were wrong, but there are three days ahead for fruitful work.
– Why could not the first to leave the start?
– We just talked with the team about it in the morning. We decided that at this regatta we need to talk more, discuss the race, and also I have to explain to the girls what I am doing and why I make this or that decision. I also think that concentration is a bit lost. We started the last race well, but the wind was very tricky and often changed direction. We did not expect this and therefore could not get into the leaders. Anatoly and Dmitry performed very well today, but there are still three days ahead, so the result is unpredictable.
124 Yesterday # 9303
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