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Today was anything but an easy day... gusty wind brought men overboard, broken rigging and torn sails
Breeze on in St Petersburg for the Sails of the White Nights ISAF Grade 1 match racing: Iehl (FRA) leads Musikhin (RUS). Image copyright Michael Kireev.
by Sails of the White Nights media
At 3 p.m. the Race Committee decided to postpone the races... this time due to a strong squall awaited. At that time Andrey Arbuzov was matching Manuel Weiller, having just left the starting zone. 10 minutes later the weather of St.Petersburg showed how unpredictable it can be, pouring rain and blasting squalls at man and boat. Some experienced true difficulties coping with nature. Alvaro Marinho´s boat dragged water with the gennaker as they broached, broke their mast and tore the main. This happened between the races, and not even racing.
Broken mast on Alvaro Marinho's (POR) boat. Image copyright Martin Kireev.
Broken mast on Alvaro Marinho's (POR) boat. Image copyright Martin Kireev.
Kirill Lebedev comments:
"In my opinion, most of the sailors make the same mistake as they continue sailing fine tuned between the races. The problem is they are not as concentrated as when they match. That is where mistakes and resulting damage come from. As far as the Portuguese are concerned, Alvaro Marinho had a nightmare of a day: first they lost the main batten and touched the starting vessel, then ran aground, broke the mast and ran aground for the second time.
Manuel Weiller Vidal (ESP). Image copyright Martin Kireev.
Manuel Weiller had also problems. His backstay (a line, fixing the mast to the transom of the boat) broke. They had to return to the pontoon where technical support exchanged damaged rigging. Next at the pontoon was Andrey Arbuzov: a vital fitting broke making main trim impossible. These and some other damages kept technical support busy for quite a while.
Sergey Musikhin (RUS) chases hard downwind. Image copyright Martin Kireev.
The Race Committee could proceed with the flights no earlier than at half past six in the evening. 3 more flights and the racing day was finally over.
Damien Iehl (FRA). Image copyright Martin Kireev.
19 flights have been raced, 6 teams completed round robin. At the moment Damien Iehl is leading (8 points, 3 matches to race), Eugeniy Neugodnikov (6 points, 3 matches to go), Reuben Corbett (7 points, 0 matches to go) and Simone Ferrarese (7 points and 0 matches to go).
A broach. Image copyright Martin Kireev.
Reuben Corbett (NZL) comments:
"I never think about my opponent, whether he is experienced or not, as I go on water to race. I just try to do my best. Today we had a difficult match against Damien Iehl. First, he is an experienced sailor. And, second, I did make some mistakes and we broached twice. The gusts were really strong. But in fact, I never lay my faults at another person´s door. It is never the weather, the jury or the boat. Any mistake made is always my fault."
Black Sheep Racing feeling the breeze on the Neva River. Image copyright Michael Kireev.
Simone Ferrarese (ITA) says:
"We finished the round robin. It was really hard to match here: strong current, shifty winds... We had to adapt our tactics quite often. That all requires enourmous concentration.
Another broach. Image copyright Martin Kireev.
"None of the matches were easy. It was especially tricky with Iehl and Neugodnikov – they are really strong. Well, we lost the last match against Corbett, having made a mistake at the start and let him pass at finish. But, nevertheless, we have good chances to get into semi-finals. Should we get so far, we will do everything to win. Is there any other goal for participating but winning? We are here to win!"
Broken tiller extension. Image copyright Martin Kireev.
The day offered plenty of extraordinary situations. Just to mention two men overboard: Damien Iehl (as they changed crews) and Alexander Ovsyannikov (as their boat collided with the boat of the Jury at the start).
Damien Iehl (FRA) gets wet as the crews change boats. Image copyright Martin Kireev.
June 12 is the national holiday in Russia – Day of Russia. And any race sailed this day anywhere in Russia is considered to be a part of a national project "Sails of Russia" – country-wide sailing competition held every year on June 12.
Grey, breezy and damp conditions in St Petersburg. Image copyright Martin Kireev.
Sails of the White Nights
