Russian double in Cascais

The beginning of April was extremely happy. At first we thought that the news that came from Cascais was almost an April Fool's joke, but... As time passed, the news remained.

What is it about? Once again we are talking about class RC 44, in which, as you know, there are several Russian teams. And if in the match race the victory(at last!) was celebrated. Synergythen the fleet races that followed the match race brought success to another of our teams - . Katuscha.

The very first day of the fleet races turned out to be successful for the fleet: our athletes ended it with 3, 7, 1 and 4 podiums, only one point behind the leader of the day. Synergy, while winning the first race of the day, was not as fortunate, finishing fourth. However, the sailors have their own opinion on the two penalties received. Moreover Synergy was hindered by the Italians who didn't give way to her in the last race and actually tore off our yacht's nose. The Italian team was punished accordingly for this ram, Synergy finished the race in fifth place, but our guys had to glue the boat all night. Unfortunately, due to rainy weather they could not do the job properly - the resin was not set well, so after a day the bow had to be glued again. Alas, our other two teams were not able to support the initial success of the leaders.
The second day was very difficult for the racers as they came across a strong squally wind (over 20 knots) and rain. The equipment didn't stand the wear and tear and our Team Nika, for example, didn't even manage to finish the day at all. Synergy was not very lucky either : sometimes halyard was broken before start, then a yacht performing a penalty turn would not let them pass. As a result - still the fourth place. But Katusha on this day turned out in full swing - fourth, third and second places in the three races. She would have done better but for a spinnaker tear and tangled spinnaker-fall in the first race of the day, which she was in the lead and could easily have won. Nevertheless, the result of the day was a well-deserved lead in the standings with a 14-point gap from the closest pursuer.
The third day (Saturday of last week) turned out to be the direct opposite of the previous day - this time the wind was too light, yachtsmen were met with a carrot, the start of the first race (two races in total) was postponed for several hours, judges were nervous and «awarded» to the Russian crew RUS 7 with 16 points for false start. Katusha managed to keep the lead, Synergy could not cope with a weak wind and dropped to eighth place (both came from outside the top ten).
It would not be an exaggeration to say that the final day of the regatta was awaited by all Russian sailing fans. British Team Aqua had a chance to catch up with Katusha and win, while Synergy had a chance to be in the top three. The anticipated competition was very tough.
Contrary to usual, Katusha's performance on the final day was poor, perhaps because of tiredness. Team Aqua was sixth in the first race on Sunday while Katusha was ninth but she still had plenty of energy left. All the hopes of the British team were dashed in the last race - they had a brilliant race and were first, but Katyusha finished fourth and crossed out all the hopes of the British fans. « It definitely was not the best day for us, but still we managed to keep the victory», - commented her tactician on the result of Katyusha.
But on this day shone Synergy: second and third places - and she gets a deserved bronze medal.
The results are the following: in fleet racing Katusha is first, Synergy is third. In match race Synergy is first, Katusha is second. Russian double!

And only one thing may confuse us: with the exception of the team's owner - the notorious Gennady Timchenko - there are no Russian athletes on board. And who do you think is the tactician there? Russell Coutts, the founder of the class and winner of the America's Cup! «With such a» engine on board, it's a sin not to win!