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Russian triumph in Cascais

Nicky's hat-trick «» and the sensation «Battleship» at the World Cup in RC44 class

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World Championships in RC44 class, which ended on 30 September in Cascais, was a triumph for St. Petersburg Yacht Club : two teams of the club - «Nika» Vladimir Prosikhin and«Bronenosec» Vladimir Lyubomirov and Kirill Frolov - have climbed to the podium of the regatta.

«Nika» became a three-time world champion - the first time in the history of the class! And«Battleship», almost entirely composed of Russian sailors, took the bronze of the competition.

«Battleship», who missed the start of the season, sensationally won two of the three races on the first day of the championship and gained a four-point advantage over the main title contenders - «Nika» and Igor La's Slovenian Team Cereef. However, already on the second day «Battleship» lost the lead «to Nika», and on the third day he received four penalty points: the boat under the Russian tricolour was carried by the current to the mark and it created «jam» for other participants, who had to lap or bring to the wind to avoid the collision. As a result, Battleship «» 's place in the top three was in doubt and was decided on the final day. The first and second places of the final day allowed «Armadillo» to win the bronze, despite the failure of the last race, in which the Russians were only seventh.

«We created our own problems and then solved them heroically, - commented the Bronenosets helmsman Kirill Frolov, - but we managed to win a medal, and we certainly congratulate Nika for the deserved victory».

For «Nika», as for «Armadillo», the windy and fast final day of the championship was decisive. Although the team was the leader of the regatta from the second day onwards, their lead over their main rival, Slovenian Cereef, was slim. The victory came easily to «Nika»: in the first race of the last day the team had an unsuccessful start and found itself on the unfavourable right side of the course, the result was the last place. In the second race, Vladimir Prosikhin's team was the first to go around the mark, but lost the lead to «Armadillo» because of a torn gennaker. But the final race for «Nika» turned out to be very successful. Before the third race, the team was preparing for a tough duel with Cereef, but match-race did not work: «Nika» started well and led all the way, while the Slovenian boat was third. By the end of the race «Nika» was half a kilometre behind the rest of the fleet, providing the fans with a beautiful and spectacular finish.

«Looking back at 2015, today's races were more difficult for us, fresher wind, more difficult to control the boat and higher speed, - commented Vladimir Prosikhin, - but we had an incredible fun racing, and of course the third world title in RC44 class».
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