Careful, the «kettles!»How did I first get to the regatta and take the silver...
Theory and practice

Careful, the «kettles!»How did I first get to the regatta and take the silver...

The editor of ItBoat participated in the «Opening of the season» by PROyachting and unexpectedly took away her silver medal.
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«Are you ready for the turn?» - asks the skipper. At this point, Julia and I are at a low start, heads down, a geek will fly over them. Lena and Galina are taking control of the stacks. «Let's choose the left one, let's grass the right one!» Galina lets go of the right rope a little, then he and Lena start pulling up the left one. Julia and I with the grace of fallow deer jump on a new board, ready to help with school if necessary. When everything is done, the ropes are in the stops, we take Galina to the new board - she is the only one who stays downstairs the longest. And she pisses her pants harder than anybody else.

Until the next tack, we open up by grabbing the tracker and gazing cautiously at the opposite side of the tracker, which slips into the water on the Harken blocks.

At their fervent ringing, Julia moans through a smile: «God, why? We're on» a sharp course for the upper sign.

We're a good team. Oil painting: Galina - in a white work shirt, Lena - in a bike workout and a lightweight bike windbreaker on top of a T-shirt, I - in a sweatshirt and jeans, from the right pocket which half looks smartphone (error, big mistake).

The forecast for today is a thunderstorm, pouring rain. Julia's the only one who guessed to take the raincoat and - attention - the boots. Yes, boots on a racing sailboat!

However, this is the kind of foresight that allows Julie to set sails in the rain that collapsed on the yacht club before the start of the race.

Through the transparent walls of the PROyachting tent, we watch Julia pair up with the skipper to prepare the boat. «Bad, very bad idea», - I think, while I look at the oscillating in the shroud of rain silhouette Beneteau Platu 25, board number 1, which we got today. I wasn't planning on going out on the water and taking part in the regatta. Inside they have switched on heaters, in them heat a light shines, behind a rack foam is poured. Maybe we should stay here before it's too late.

Last year at the Media Regatta, which is organized annually by PROyaching, we went out on the water on a small Elliot - so, ride «. The skipper wasn't determined to involve us in the controls and go for a lengthy explanation, so I got a boom at the beginning on the boat.my head, I sat on my butt for half an hour, afraid to move and feel like a dead weight while he was steering with one hand, steering the spinnaker with the other and pulling the stack with the third. Conclusion: if you want to learn something from a yacht, do not come to the rollers, come to compete. Do not be shy, ask stupid questions, and everything will be.

But I'm the one who's so wise now, and before the race, I was standing on the beach, crushing buns and in response to...the offer to take part in the regatta blew up - I don't «know, I don't know how to do anything.

-Everyone here can't do anything! - have been convincing me. But I looked at the people in Helly Hansen outfit and at myself, thinking that I certainly have nothing to do on the boat.

My selfishness was a little quieter when I saw my team. Besides, we got a young skipper, he had an earring in his ear, and he didn't look like a rough sea wolf yelling at sailors, promising to hang them onor give it to the sharks for eating (good thing there are no sharks in the Khimki Reservoir, though...they say there are crayfish).

Anyway, I made up my mind. Of course, I wasn't counting on any prizes.

But in the first race, we didn't get the worst result, coming in fourth of eight. At the same time we understood the start line (it is the finish line), learned what flags of different colors on the referee's ribbon mean, and understood what is required from us: to cross the start line in time, bypass the upper sign, bypass the lower sign, finish. We felt, so to speak, many obvious things with the skin. Yes, shkuty and leera burn delicate palms «of white collars,»so it is worth wearing gloves (at least ordinary garden gloves will do). Yes, it is windy and cold on a yacht, and also slippery in usual footwear (and here it is the most troublesome).

Of course, the result in the race for beginners is mainly the merit of the skipper, plus a little luck. But something depends on the team as well. Listen to the skipper, react quickly to his words, do your job and do not prevent another to do his.

By the second race we remembered where and what to do: the muzzle was stable, and the scheme was the same every time: on the way to the top sign we are led to the wind, and after the bend we fall in the wind. On the full course it seems that it blows weakly, but it is not: it just blows not in the face. To win a little bit of precious seconds on the full course, we use a lifejack - «butterfly»: Lena goes to the nose and turns the corner of the stack with her hands. This time we were ahead of everybody so much that after the finish we rolled around the water area long, waiting for the others.

In the third race, luck made us a pen. It wasn't like that: the girls got a school on the winch in the wrong direction and crashed, correcting their mistake. On a sharp course, the stacker clung to the windlass several times and I crawled on my nose to correct it - and each time I managed to do it in the wrong direction. We ended up being the fifth.

On this sad note, it could all be over, because there are usually three races. But there was a lot of wind, so Mikhail Kondratyev, General Director of PROyachting, decided: «They came to race, so let them race!» and announced the fourth. This fourth result provided us with silver in the end. We came in second, having photofinished with another «board.

On the shore, we removed and rolled up the sails, removed the ropes, hung up the faucets.

I've never had such a wolf's appetite. Waiting for the award ceremony I absorbed pilaf and thought: even if we do not get on the podium, for me it will be a victory - at least over my own cowardice. I have decided that I agree with Richard Branson, a billionaire known for always answering yes to all offers. If life gives opportunity, it's stupid not to take it. Even if the result seems highly questionable.

Our result is no longer questionable after a few forks of pilaf: three boats (ours included) scored an equal number of points, and the prizes were distributed among the parishes.

We climbed the podium - four girls with no experience and no waterproofing, each received a medal from the hands of an Olympic champion and...co-owners of PROyachting Ekaterina Skudina and saw that only three serious guys led by the famous Finnist Arkady Kistanov could not get around.

P. S. They took home an unbridled number of prizes: a bag of seafood from Meridian«,»cosmetics from Humalaya and Authentica Love, tickets to the Radisson flotilla cruise in Moscow. No, I wasn't paid to advertise these brands, I named them to illustrate the idea I got from the PROyachting press conference: This project is one of the very, very few in the sailing world to be interesting for sponsors, to explain to companies what yachting is and why it is cool to hang a brand on a sail or invest in the organization of the event. And the result is self-sufficiency. I really hope that soon I will be able to interview Ekaterina Skudina and find out how she did it.

P. P.S. After the regatta, almost at home, I was identified by a lady who visited the opening of the season PROyachting with her daughter. «Did we congratulate you? How'd you get there, you pro? Can we have no experience?»- She was chirping. No, not a pro; yes, you can. Yes, you can. Buy a ticket and you're on the water, all inclusive. By the way, a ticket to the Opening «of the season cost» 3 thousand rubles. This is a few hours on the water and a widow's lunch. In my opinion, it's not bad, especially taking into account that you can get to the race venue by subway without leaving the capital.

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