They say nature has no bad weather. It's in«civilian» life. In the case of sailing, it depends on what you mean by bad«. Stillness is the number one problem in such competitions. The working wind of the participants of the Higher Division did not please the stage in Kazan in principle. The problem was also caused by the shallow river Kazanka, where the races were to be held initially. Record low water level physically did not allow to hold sailing races in the planned place, so the organizers decided to change the competitive water area back on May 9 - to save the stage entrusted to Lake Lower Kaban.
«It was on the Kazanka River that the podium was originally prepared for the performance. The local weather was studied, and tactical designs were put in place. But suddenly everything changed and we found ourselves on a completely new water»," admitted Anna Basalkina, a helmsman-mentor of the St Petersburg Yacht Club's Academy of Sailing Sports team.
However, the teams had enough time to adjust their preparation. Besides, the «reserve» water area turned out to be new for everyone - the principle of equality remained observed. So everything went smoothly. And even somewhat measured.
Before the start, no one dared to outline the circle of the main contenders for victory, taking into account all the above factors. They did not know what to expect from the three competition days, and the participants of the Higher Division themselves. The reigning champions, the Burevestnik Sailing Team (ex. Leviathan), were also vaguely assessing their prospects for the 3rd stage of the National Sailing League. Explains why - based on the results of the first two rounds held in Sochi and the first two rounds of the National Sailing Team (ex. Leviathan). Tuapse...the «Petrel» is only on the far 10th line of the overall standings.
«Winter came out in our country almost without preparation, while many rivals were training in Sochi - personally saw. At previous stages it was quite tight on points, and in principle anyone could win. We came to Kazan especially early - to train. That year our squad was almost always the same. Now it's different - constant changes due to the fact that someone is busy in other projects. Last season we spent most of our time studying the water areas, their specifics, and now it takes a lot of time to form the team, to work on the coherence, - Mikhail Sheremetiev from Burevestnik Sailing Team was»careful with the forecasts on Friday morning.
But as soon as Maxim Titarenko's team went out on the water of a tiny lake, it became clear: the mood of the champions of combat. Not once in the first racing day «Burevestnik» (Maxim Titarenko, Mikhail Sheremetyev, Pavel Savenko, Alexander Prokofiev) finished outside the top 3 (2-1-1-2-3), thus capturing the long-awaited leadership. The finish at 8th place in one of the races for the final was fatal, and as a result there was not enough bronze to win.
The final day on Sunday was generally crumpled - the sportsmen spent more than two hours in the afternoon hoping to get the coveted wind. We couldn't wait. By the way, they sat about the same amount of time on Saturday. But the forced downtime allowed yachtsmen under the hot June sun to lie down on a carefully mowed lawn on the slopes of the shore - good when work is a pleasure.
In total, only 29 starts were made in all three days.
If the wind (oh happiness!) and began to blow, then throughout the whole competitive weekend did it quite peculiar: either dissolved on water, or it was spinning«- from»extreme to extreme. Lottery! And to make a turn around its axis in such conditions, having received a fine, - a problem at all from among easily solvable. Who better coped, plus who was accompanied by luck, - that and on a podium. Logical and simple.
The enviable stability continued to please the team «Akhmat» (Alexander Bozhko, Roman Konstantinov, Khasan Khadzhiev, Alexander Andrianov) - the third podium out of three possible in the season-2019 for representatives of the Chechen Republic.
The strongest team from Ekaterinburg - the «Lord of sails-Asia» (Vyacheslav Ermolenko, Denis Tyurikov, Yuri Popov, Leonid Tarasov). Having written down two first and two third parishes in the final day of the regatta, the Uralians closed the question about the winner.
We hope that this is not the first and not the last time the National Sailing League has visited the officially third capital of Russia. Local authorities are working systematically to make Kazan, and the republic as a whole, the centre of yachting in the Volga region. The honor to host one of the rounds of the largest sailing project in the country is another proof of it.
«We believe that after a while not only the strongest teams from Russia but also from Europe and the world will grow up in Tatarstan. About a year ago we discussed the issue of holding the stage in Kazan and establishing the largest national sailing centre in the Laishevsky District, on the Kamsky Sea - it will be a training base for young athletes,"»said Vladimir Silkin, President of the All-Russian Sailing Federation.
The fight for the title will continue in two weeks, when the teams of the Higher Division will meet again, but already in the IV stage - in Nizhny Novgorod.
