The Opposition: EUROSAF match racing in Russia, Yava Trophy 2008

by Yana Dobzhitskaya

While the Kiwi BlackMatch team is en route to the ACI Match Race Cup in Croatia for next week, some of their regular opponents are match racing in Russia.

The round robins in two groups have decided the competitors for the quarter-finals of the EUROSAF European Match Racing Championship, “Yava Trophy 2008”, Grade 1 event in Moscow. The event is being held 9th-14th September on the Pirogovsiy arm of the Klyazminskiy reservoir.

Russian skipper Evgeny Neugodnikov, who has won only the half of his races, had a chance to make up for lost time on Thursday. He has now clocked up five victories for his team.

Unfortunately, the team of another Russian skipper, Andrey Arbuzov, has missed the qualification. He managed to win only three races out of seven.

Only four crews from each group have qualified for the quarter-finals. These skippers will compete on Friday for the right to participate in the semi-finals:

1. Group A: Francesco Bruni (Italy), Nick Cherry (Great Britain), Alvaro Marinho (Portugal), Eugeniy Neugodnikov (Russia);

2. Group B: Manuel Weiller (Spain), Tomislav Basic (Croatia), Peter Wibroe (Denmark), Staffan Lindberg (Finland).

From the first two days of racing, two skippers, Francesco Bruni and Manuel Weiller, have the best results. However, even they have each lost one race out of seven. Bruni lost against Cherry, and Weiller against Basic.

On Friday, the competitors for semi-finals will be determined and on Saturday the sailors will qualify for the finals, and we will find out the name of the holder of the “YAVA Trophy – 2008” cup on Sunday.

Round Robin Results (wins-losses):

GROUP A
1. Francesco Bruni (ITA) 6-1
2. Nick Cherry (GBR) 5-2
3. Alvaro Marinho (POR) 5-2
4. Eugeniy Neugodnikov (RUS) 5-2
5. Eric Monnin (SUI) 3-4
6. Pierre-Antoine Morvan (FRA) 2-5
7. Marek Stanczyk (POL) 1-6
8. Jelle Roos (NED) 1-6

GROUP B
1. Manuel Weiller (ESP) 6-1
2. Tomislav Basic (CRO) 5-2
3. Peter Wibroe (DEN) 4-3
4. Staffan Lindberg (FIN) 4-3
5. Carsten Kemmling (GER) 4-3
6. Andrey Arbuzov (RUS) 3-4
7. Jon Baeck (SWE) 1-6
8. Jon Brecelj (SLO) 1-6

YAVA Trophy 2008