The «Yachtswoman of the Year 2017» award ceremony, established by the All-Russian Sailing Federation, took place on November 20. Traditionally, this award was held by the Russian Yachting Federation with Yacht Russia magazine, and then the winners were chosen by the jury. However, this year there was a split between the organisers, and each side decided to hold their own prize. The Russian Yachting Federation has changed the previous format of the event: the owners of the main titles «Yachtsman» and «Yachtswoman of the Year» are elected by voting of the Federation members.
This season, Igor Rytov's crew «Bogatyr» has become the first ever all-Russian crew to win the famous 600-mile Rolex Middle Sea Race, for which it was awarded the «Team of the Year» award by PROyachting last week.
Furthermore, the «Russian bogatyrs» crew, led by Rytov, topped the European Melges20 World League standings, took 1st place in the world Melges World League standings, and also won the European Melges 20 class championship title.
In 2017, she won the World and European Under-21 Champion, the Russian Champion, and also took 2nd place at the European Senior Championship.
Stefania Elfutina was not able to attend the ceremony, and Natalia Ivanova, head coach of the Russian national team, received the prize for her.
The organizers and partners of the award were not limited to the main nominations. According to tradition, there were also special awards. And here the Russian Sailing Federation leadership had an opportunity to acknowledge the people they deem fit, as the general voting covered only two main nominations.
«Team of the Year» was recognized by the Ekaterinburg crew «Tavatuy», he not only became the 2017 World Champion in the Melges 32 class, but also unprecedented for the whole team received the crystal trophy «Man of the Year» at the PROyachting Awards.
The award as «Russia's Most Massive Regatta» went to «Gelendzhik Regatta», which gathered more than 600 young yachtsmen in autumn.
«Philanthropist of the Year» Andrei Ogirenko, member of the Russian Yachting Federation Board of Trustees.
FGBU «Yug Sport»was awarded in the nomination «Center of Olympism» .
The prize as «Best International Regatta Organizer» in 2017 was deservedly awarded to the St. Petersburg Yacht Club.
The special prize «Team League» and passing Cup of National Sailing League was given to the winner of this year's project team «Lord of Sail - ASIA».
Also at the ceremony the results of the main sailing photo competition of the country SAILING PHOTO AWARDS were announced. The organisers had a challenging task: to choose the best shots in 8 categories out of 707 photos taken by 60 photographers. The main trophy of the contest - «Photo of the Year 2017» went to Ivan Bugarev. Here is this photo:
As a reminder, this year we are waiting for another award «Yachtsman of the Year», which will be held on November 30, for the first time separately from the WFSU, by Yacht Russia magazine.
