July, 12 two races were held at the St. Petersburg yacht-club “Hercules”. These races were held in difficult weather conditions: all day the Ministry of Emergency Situations urged to avoid water (“high waves”, “life-threatening”), open spaces (“strong wind gusts”) and be careful. Sailors shrugged their shoulders when they heard about this before starting.
The first race started exactly on time – at noon. But the first attempt to start failed: the entire fleet was recalled and with the Black flag the second attempt was successful exept for the FIN72 who were over early. And accurately with the siren the thunder blasted, as if it waited for it. The official forecast came true: there began a powerful thunderstorm with gusty wind, as the EMERCOM predicted.
After the first mark Victor Fogelson (RUS 35) was leading, closely followed by Vasiliy Senatorov (RUS 34), Ilya Kozhevnikov (RUS 77), Klaus Diederichs (GBR 758), Wolf Waschkuhn (SUI 318) and Anatoly Loginov (RUS 27).
And further weather played its part: sudden gust didn’t let half of the fleet raise its speed. But there were sailor, who could take that moment: Loginov, Brennecke and Diederichs did their best. Therefore, they took the first three places in the first race, though soaked through.
The second start was calmer: the storm has finished, the wind has stabilized. Here the experienced Vasiliy Senatorov left no chance to the opponents, and finished first by a wide margin. Mikhail Senatorov’s yacht “Integrity” came second, “Annapurna” of Anatoly Loginov – third.
Thus, after the first racing day, Loginov takes the first place in the overall standings (4 points), second – Brennecke (7 points). At the third position – Dmitry Samokhin, both times took fourth place.
In the “Classic” category both times the best place was taken by Victor Los at his boat “Phoenix”: 11th and 16th place.
Vasiliy Senatorov: The first day came out very volatile, like everything that is happens in the world now. During the day we had rain, hail, calm – all the possible options have been collected together. That’s how Petersburg showed all what he can do. Hopefully in the next few days the weather will be more stable, more predictable. In the second race we just caught the wind, turned in time – for that we love sailing – it is impossible to foresee everything. At the upwind you meet approximately ten thousand waves, and each wave should be processed! And about the wind – there are no beginners in the “Dragon”, here are people who understand the danger, know how to deal with it. If it’s too much wind – we would lower the sails. We are accustomed to the very different racing conditions. Yes, today was a special day, but days like this happen.
The detailed results of the first racing day can be found here: The 1st Day Results.
Tomorrow, 13th July, the start of the first race is scheduled for 12:00 p.m.
The most accurate and fast information on the races in our Twitter: https://twitter.com/RussianDragons
