At the upcoming September stage of Extreme Sailing Series in St. Petersburg the colors of the Russian flag will be defended by St. Petersburg Yacht Club Gazprom Team Russia. The crew will consist of both experienced Russian and foreign athletes.
The skipper of the Russian boat will be Phil Robertson from New Zealand, under whose leadership Gazprom Team Russia won two series medals in Qingdao and Hamburg last year. From that line-up, the crew also includes baseman Alexey Kulakov, who will be joined by sculls Viktor Serezhkin, William Tiller (New Zealand) and Shane Diviney (Ireland).
«On a multicultural and multilingual boat, communication is key. In this series, communication and teamwork are particularly important»," said Phil Robertson, who recently won the international match race series. « It's an extra challenge for us. Some crew members have a very strong accent, but we're working on it», - added Alexey Kulakov.
Gazprom Team Russia did not take part in the previous stages of the series, but received a wild-card from the organizers.
«Let us join the fleet of the series in the middle of the season, we have something to surprise the masters of Extreme Sailing Series, - said Phil Robertson. - We can use our combined competition experience, familiarity with the waters and our competitors».
Like other participants of the series, Gazprom Team Russia will compete on a new catamaran of GC32 class.
«Of course, a GC32 class catamaran differs greatly from the Extreme 40 previously used in the series, - Alexey Kulakov says, - there are many nuances in control techniques, some things have changed in the tasks of the crew. But already on the first day of training we were able to reach a speed of 30 knots, so we can cope with the new tasks!»
In St. Petersburg eight teams from eight countries will compete against Gazprom Team Russia. This season the line-up of the series is very strong. «Two series winners, Swiss team Alinghi, twice Olympic champion Roman Hagar with Austrian Red Bull, DanishSAP Extreme Sailing Team, which finished second in 2015 season, and veterans of Oman Air series, which is headed by the participant of three campaigns in the American Cup», the legendary Morgan Larson, will come to St. Petersburg. Oman Air now leads the Extreme Sailing Series overall with three wins in the four stages of the season held.
Under the flag of the Republic of China, the crew of match racing specialist Taylor Canfield (Virgin Islands) is participating in the Extreme Sailing Series. He was the 2013 World Match Racing Champion and has won a number of other prestigious titles in recent years.
Making his Extreme Sailing Series debut this season is Sail Portugal-Visit Madeira, skippered by three-time Olympic medallist Diogo Caiolla.
The youngest team in the present stage can be considered the crew formed under the leadership of the most titled Olympic yachtsman of modern times - British Sir Ben Ainslie - Land Rover BAR Academy. The team is skippered by British 49er champion Neil Hunter.
According to the programme of the stage the racing Extreme Sailing Series in St.-Petersburg will take place on September 1-4. Estimated start time of the competitions is daily at 14:00.
