Frenchman Edward Russo, the SB20 Class President, was in St. Petersburg at 2014. He told us about some impressions of this city, about the Organizing Committee and about the Dragon class priorities against SB20.
– At 2014 you participated in SB20 Worlds held here, in St. Petersburg. What was your impression of that event?
– A very warm welcome from the Russian organisation and exceptional courtesy and hospitality throughout the week: airport pickup for foreign teams, full service assistance all the time (reserving taxis and restaurants for example). A bar was installed on the main grounds of the club which was the central meeting place before and after racing, skippers meetings, etc. Time was reserved for visiting the city.Photography and media coverage was plentiful and it’s quality was excellent. Lodging was extremely reasonable: 500 euro total for 10 evenings for 2 people, including breakfast. Transportation was correct and better than imagined. Half of the teams took the Metro which ran efficiently and is not difficult to understand.The other half used the taxi option which is not expensive and worked well. Taxi companies need to be recommended by the Organizing Committee. There were 52 people in the Organisation for the SB20 2014 Worlds excluding the Race Committee and the Jury with Tatiana Kurbatova as the head of the organisation. Impeccable organization.
– They say, the Dragon class is the past, so it is slowly disappearing now. What do you think about it, as the President of SB20 class – the rival one?
– The Dragon class has been around a very long time and will continue to be a strong class for many years to come. The SB20 class does not consider the Dragon class a rival because we do not see a lot of boat owners switching between these two classes (the J70 and Melges 20 are more rivals than the Dragon Class). The SB20 class looks to the Dragon class for the things that it does well: the international character of its fleets; the well organized Championship Regulations are particularly impressive and something the SB20 class will try to establish over the years.
– What can you say about the City of St. Petersburg?
– St. Petersburg is amazingly beautiful and an excellent place for friends and family traveling with the competitors. I had been to Moscow several times for business and this did not prepare me well for the visit to St. Petersburg which is much more of a European city with grand boulevards and pastel coloured buildings. There is a tremendous amount of historical sites, churches and places to see and visit.There is also a strong local cultural way of life that the Event Organizer should try to take into account.
– And what do you think about weather conditions in this venue?
– Unfortunately, the SB20 Worlds had a high pressure warm front for the week of the Worlds and the wind was very light. The weather was very warm and sunny.
– You have already met the organizers of Euro-2016. What can you say about them?
– Tatiana Kurbatova was the head of the 2014 SB20 World Championship organisation team and did an impeccable job of running the event. You can expect nothing but top quality organization skills from this team.
