September 8, 2019
Tolyatti: the first race
The first races took place at the main competitions of the season for the Optimists at the Russian Championship in Tolyatti. With an unstable weak wind, the organizers managed to conduct one race in all fleets.
On the second day of the championship, weather conditions again did not allow the organizers of the championship to go according to the plan: instead of 4 races, only one was possible in all fleets of the Optimists. During the first race, the wind was even, without strong approaches and waste, its speed ranged from 4 to 6 knots.
“Unfortunately, the weather is very difficult. The wind is weak, changing direction and strength. Attempts to conduct races were very many, rearranged the distance several times. The forecast on this reservoir does not always coincide with the real conditions, it all depends on the weather and cloud cover, ”said Oleg Yushkov, chairman of the protest committee.
After the first race, the wind began to leave a little and change sides, then it leveled off and became more stable, and the judges gave another start. After the “yellow” fleet started, the wind began to change again, so the race in other fleets was canceled. The finish in the “yellow” fleet took place under unpredictable conditions: the wind then changed direction, then disappeared, then turned around 180 degrees. In the control time, 32 people met the deadline (total in the group of 75 athletes). The control time is 15 minutes after the first finish.
According to the results of one race held, the leadership is shared by four riders who came first in their fleets. Kirill Shunenkov, Artyom Maksimkin from the Vodnik Sailing Club, Georgy Brazhenko (CSKA) and another “academician” from the Rautu team Andrei Sotnikov have one first visit from the athlete of the Academy of Sailing.
“Very difficult weather conditions, as the wind is weak and unstable. Everywhere the shore, so the wind sets very strongly, very strongly and unpredictably changing. Due to this, riders who are just lucky can get a big advantage, ”shared the participant in the competition Andrei Sotnikov (Academy of Sailing and Rautu, St. Petersburg).
The athlete of the Academy, Marina Babkina, leads the women's standings. With three points, she takes ninth place in the overall standings. Among the younger boys, Dmitry Eremin from Krestovsky Island (two points) showed himself best in the first race. Among the younger girls, the athlete of the Sailing Club Vodnik Dina Zhilkina leads. On her account 12 points.
“The wind was spinning very hard, it was difficult, but all the same, all the strongest racers showed a good result. At this championship I want to get into the top three strongest girls. I was at the Fourth Spartakiad. Here the rivals are strong, but I'm not weak, ”said the participant of the competition Varvara Yuryeva (Krasnodar Territory, Gelendzhik, 3rd place among girls).
To complete the qualification, the judges plan to conduct 5 races in each of the fleets. Then the riders will be divided into “gold”, “silver”, “bronze” and “white” fleets depending on the results shown in the qualification. The Russian Championship is the most important start of the season for the Optimists. Also, these competitions are one of the stages of selection for the national team for the European Championship and the World Championship.
Recall that the competition is held on the basis of the yacht club "Friendship" in the city of Togliatti on the Kuibyshev reservoir.
Olga Sidorovskaya
press service of the All-Russian Association of the class "Optimist"
86 September 8, 2019 # 9449
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