St. Petersburg State University and Moscow State University against Oxford and Cambridge: the Sailing Battle on the Neva.

The International Student regatta for St. Petersburg State University prizes has come to an end in St. Petersburg. The team of skipper Yegor Zuev from the Far Eastern Federal University (Vladivostok) took the Cross-Country Cup. Silver went to students of the Belarusian State University of Physical Culture, bronze medals were won by students of Lesgaft NSU (St. Petersburg).

The open Saint-Petersburg State University Sailing Cup has recently entered the All-Russian and then the international sailing calendar. Having started in 2016 on the initiative of St. Petersburg State University graduates, this year the regatta celebrated its fourth birthday. All these years the project has been actively developing, proving a simple truth: there was clearly a lack of sailing competitions of this format in Russia. In favor of the fact that this regatta is serious «and for a long time,»says the fact that the event is supported by the Presidential Grant Fund, received by St. Petersburg State University. Today it is the largest competition on the student sailing calendar, which best promotes and popularizes yachting.

For example, the participation of ITMO, NITU MISIS «and the Peter the Great» Polytechnic University in the first two regattas prompted these universities to create their own sailing sections. And as a result of the third regatta the teams of Russia and China initiated an international dialogue on the development of the university sailing sport.

So sailing races bring together students from all over the world not in words, but in action.

This year 24 teams from eight countries came to St. Petersburg, including such grand universities as Cambridge and Oxford, Qingdao University (China), Delft University (Netherlands), Klaustall Technical University (Germany), Moscow State University, MIPT, ITMO, Peter the Great Polytechnic University (Germany). Many of them have already repeatedly chased the title of the best in the Northern Capital and came again, which made the 2019 regatta even more exciting.

The race was held in the waters of the Neva near the Peter and Paul Fortress, which in itself - the test (who chased - he will understand). Strong current, fickle wind and full confidence that your plans for the race Neva will refute. In the end, only seven races out of the planned 15.

On the second day, the gusty wind was replaced by a complete calm, the proximity of the final made the situation more and more tense, affecting the mood of the drivers - during the day there were five protests. Weather conditions also did not allow to hold full-fledged final races, according to the steering team of Leningrad State University named after Pushkin Arthur Kotlyarov, after going to the start, riders stomped «on the water» for about four hours due to lack of wind. As a result, a well-deserved victory was won by the team, which bet on the highest results from the initial qualifying races. It was the steering crew of Yegor Zuev from the Far Eastern University.

«The guys came strong enough, with such it was impossible to relax and ride simply in high, and with complexity of local water area I am already familiar. My tactics were very simple: without a second coming, I only went to win. The status must be maintained!», - told itBoat the leader of the winning team.

On the second day of the competition to follow this simple tactics students of DFU almost interrupted the skills of rivals from NSU named after Lesgaft and wrapped on the keel algae.

«We chased the Santer 760, I got on this boat for the first time, but prepared theoretically, asked about the features of the class from experienced yachtsmen. Already in a training race, I felt and adapted to the Santer 760. My plans? Very soon the Peter the Great Bay Cup will start, and I will race there, -»summed up Yegor Zuev.

Besides, the winning team has a great chance to defend its title of the strongest at the International Top Universities Regatta, which is held in Qingdao under the auspices of the local university.

The competition also includes an alumni race. On the final day of the regatta, all brothers and sisters in alma mater who are interested in sailing, regardless of their level of training, went sailing. The helmsmen were students from the cup teams, which made the competition spectacular. On start there were eight teams, among which there was a team from the Alumni Association, which, by the way, took the third place (skipper Yegor Volkov, Lesgaft NSU). And the crew of helmsman Artur Kotlyarov from St. Petersburg State University named after Pushkin won. Silver parish - at the helm team Bogdan Babenko (RSUFKSMIT, Moscow). Bogdan Babenko said that the team of the university turns out to be at the regatta of St. Petersburg State University for the fourth time.

«This competition makes sailing more accessible. Besides, there is a high-quality coastal program waiting for participants and spectators, and in this sense the St. Petersburg State University Cup is unique, -»noted the helmsman.

The round table with such experienced yachtsmen as Igor Zaretsky, the only Russian participant of the round-the-world non-stop single race Golden Globe Race, Irina Gracheva, the first Russian participant of the single transatlantic race MiniTransat, became the decoration of the coastal program. Oleg Zherebtsov, founder of the Russian Association of SB20 class yachts and participant of Volvo Ocean Race regatta.

The organizers promise that the project will launch an online resource dedicated to sailing in Russia and the world.

It will collect information about the history of sailing, interviews with the participants of the regatta, video with practical lessons on marine affairs and sailing.

«Today our regatta is the world's largest student sailing competition. And this is a very important element of international dialogue and cooperation between students around the world, -»concludes the project curator Denis Kotlyarov, former captain of the St. Petersburg State University team, master of sports in sailing.