The Yachtsman of the Year Award ceremony was held in Moscow. This year the award was given for the 7th time. The leitmotif of the event held at the Moscow State Musical Theatre of Folklore «Russian Song», was social networks. The audience was invited to come into the virtual world of the new social network «Seilingbuk» and get acquainted with its heroes.
The chosen venue influenced the whole concept of the main social event of the Russian yachting. The guests could follow the event from the theatrical boxes and the performance of the nominees was like a modern performance using technology, light and sound effects.
«We managed to find a format that focused on the heroes of the award, - says the creative director of the ceremony Alexey Zhirov. - This year there really was a lot of people to choose from as the Russian sailing results are amazing».
The yachtsman of the year is absolute champion of Russia in SB20 class, world champion in RC44 international class and champion of RC44 Championship Tour Vladimir Prosikhin. Yachtswoman of the year for the second year in a row remains world and European champion kitesurfer Elena Kalinina. This year Elena was short-listed for the prestigious ISAF Yachtsman of the Year award «.». This is the first time a Russian athlete has been nominated by ISAF.
In their interview to the Press Service of the Russian Yachting Federation the athletes told about their most memorable event of the year. For Elena Kalinina, it was, as expected, the World Championship. Vladimir Prosikhin was mostly remembered for the RC44 Champinshp Tour, which ended November 29 on Gorda.» Nicky, the owner and helmsman of «, noted that there were three different tactics in his team during the year and the team had to rebuild each time. However, the main surprise came not from the people but from nature.
«Last regatta was very difficult, and not because Ed Bird came in (to replace the tactician). The waters behaved quite unusually. There was a weak wind, cumulus clouds, these clouds sucked the wind in and out, and shot a wall of rain. In one race the wind range was from 3 to 33 knots and it was easy to change to 90 degrees," said Prosikhin. - The fate of the year was decided in the last 20 seconds of the race. For the first time in the regatta we were lucky, a cloud came from somewhere, it blew, and Peninsula Petroleum flew in front of us at the finish line, overtaking both us and Bronenosec».
So «Battleship» did not get the point needed to win and the two teams, going with a minimal lead over each other, ended up with an equal number of points. As a result «Nika» became the champion due to previous victories.
Sailing «Team of the Year» was the duo of Pavel Sozykin and Denis Gribanov, who took bronze at the World and European Championships in the 470 class. Their coachMikhail Zabolotnov was named «Coach of the Year». In the category «Golden Lens» won Elena Razina, who was actively involved in sailing life of St. Petersburg (for example, filmed «Dragons» at the Open Championship of Russia in this class). « Best organizers» were the organizers of the Pskov sailing regatta Alexey Grunenishev and Anatoly Kondakov. The best children's sailing school of 2015 was named Sailing Academy of St. Petersburg.
The ceremony was attended by more than 800 guests, including the leaders of the All-Russian Sailing Federation (VSPF), presidents of class associations and representatives of regional federations - VSPF members, award nominees and partners, famous businessmen and public figures.
