The qualification stage of the Sailing Champions League (SCL) is the final stage of selection before the final, this year it will be held in the Swiss Sailing Champions League.
The weak, gentle wind that constantly changed direction and the strong current of the Neva gave a stage of unpredictability, which, of course, maximized the struggle in the leading group of yachtsmen.

St.-Petersburg met the athletes harshly.
On the first day of the yachtsmen it rained, and the wind on the gusts reached 15 knots, in the second bad weather it changed its calmness, so the
Russia in the Sailing Champions League was represented by five teams from different regions: Saint-Petersburg Yacht Club (St. Petersburg), PIRogovo («Moscow), Saint-Petersburg Yacht Club Sailing Academy», ArtTube RUS1 (Moscow), Calipso (Tuapse). Two of them qualified for the final.

«THE CAKE OWNED BY VLADIMIR»LIPAVA, OUR FAMOUS MATCH RACER, THE WINNER OF THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS FINAL AND THE SILVER MEDALIST OF THE SCL 2017 FINAL, FINISHED THE REGATTA ON THE 4TH PLACE.
«The conditions are difficult, this time the current was not particularly mad, it is usually stronger. But due to the fact that the wind was either weak or fickle, there were enough difficulties. Just get used to a certain configuration, and everything has already changed and you need to recalculate the time. On results in Switzerland I do not guess, it is senseless, St. Moritz - small lake where also can blow from under each corner, - Vladimir Lipavsky, the captain of team PIRogovo has commented»on results of a regatta.
The St. Petersburg Yacht Club's team of young and promising athletes (steering team - Artem Sudakov, tactician - Daniel Banayan) reached the final of the European League, taking the sixth place in qualification. In the last race of the day the racing committee decided on a false start of the team, but the guys filed a protest, as according to the tracker and the shooting from the drone there was no false start. As a result, after the analysis of the protest, the refereeing team left our team in the sixth place (if the false start was declared invalid, the guys would have moved to the second position).

The St. Petersburg Yacht Club Academy team led by Anna Basalkina, who reached the semi-final of the European Champions League in 2017 and took the third place there, was not lucky enough to compete in these competitions. First the team flew to the false start and got OCS (the race was not counted), in the next race our guys were punished with a penalty kick on the last top sign, and then the 360 degree turn threw the team of Anna Basalkina to several positions - eighth place.

The German teams - already traditionally - have won.
First and second places behind two German clubs - Bayerischer Yacht-Club from Lake Starnberger (south of Munich) and the club from Bremen Wassersport-Verein Hemelingen.

Racer Julian Autenrit from the Bayerischer Yacht-Club
«The water area is very demanding - current, frequently changing wind. And the place for racing is wonderful: city centre, beach. We had a very good start, it helped a lot. Although the first day turned out to be quite nervous, but then we got together, set up teamwork. It's a good thing it ends well!»
Karston Kemming of the German team
«You have to be focused all the time, and I love it. The races are very short, it's a bit unusual, but the rules are the same for everyone. I don't think that native walls help Russians much, because they don't race very often here either, and they didn't have extra training before the regatta.

Let's remind that 20 leading yacht clubs of Europe participated in the third qualifying stage of SCL. All
- Yachtsmen from Finland. For them the Neva water area is almost home, they often visit St. Petersburg. This year the Suomi country was played for by a team of yacht club
- Yachtsmen from France. The French are not frequent guests in the Northern Capital: only in 2017 were there teams from Antibes and France.
- Yachtsmen from Italy. In 2017-2018, it was the Italians who won the Euroleague - clubs from Bari and the coast.
- Swiss yachtsmen. The clubs in this seemingly unseaworthy area will be in the Euroleague finals between 2016 and 2018. Bronze in the final of 2016 was won by
- Yachtsmen from Holland. This country is always represented at the competitions in St. Petersburg
- Yachtsmen from Sweden. The Segelsällskapet Kaparen team is based
- Yachtsmen from Lithuania. Lithuanian racers participated for the first time in competitions in St. Petersburg
- Yachtsmen from Poland. The capital club Legia «Warsaw has arrived in
- Yachtsmen from Denmark. Copenhagen hosted the very first competition of the future European Champions Sailing League in 2014. Since then Denmark has not missed a single qualification in St. Petersburg,


Thanks to its format and the large number of participants, this is one of the most successful undertakings of the Yacht Club of
During this time, several thousand foreign yachtsmen have discovered the northern capital for themselves. Perhaps the regatta will be the same as the St
General partner of the Sailing Champions League 2019 qualification stage in