Competition during the qualification regatta for Sails of the White Nights 2011. Image copyright Sails of White Nights.
Day One by Yana Dobzhitskaya
«Neva is unpredictable. Today we had to wait rather long for normal weather conditions to begin races. Light unstable breeze and strong current interfered with us, that’s why for the beginners the situation was very difficult. But there are present masters who already know water area of Neva very well. All they needed was to choose correct tactics. We already have leaders of the race. From the Russian side Sergey Musikhin and Andrew Arbuzov are the best.
Foreigners have proved to be equally well, therefore it is difficult to speak about leaders. It is a difficult race, let’s see what’ll happen further», - the senior judge on start-finish Vladimir Komel said.
Sergey Misukhin has won all races today. «We are to face 10 more races, we don't relax, as much depends on the wind and current, and on refereeing too. We try to receive as much pleasure from these races as we can and we aren’t obsessed with the results. The most difficult race of this day was the one against Andrew Arbuzov because we committed false start, had to return to the start line and then catch up with our rival. But the crew of Arbuzov made a mistake and as a result we won this race. We’d like to mention the team of Ekaterina Kutovaya, the girls make a good impression in these races» - Sergey shared his opinion.
In the evening, after competitions, the opening ceremony of the regatta took place. During the ceremony acting general director of GU GK «The Congress Palace» Victor Chirkov and the director of the regatta Natalia Fedorova brought the winner’s cup on the stage, declaring the beginning of competitions. The head of Sports Committee of the Government of St.-Petersburg Vyacheslav Chazov was also present at the ceremony. «I congratulate sportsmen on good weather and wish them good luck and successes in races. I hope that all participants will enjoy this regatta very much», - the head of Sports Committee addressed the public.
Within four days – from June, 8 till June, 11th in the water area of Neva at the Peter and Paul Fortress races of round-robin will take place. They will be followed by semi-finals and finals. The winner will be decided on Sunday, 12th June.
Day Two by SailRaceWin
Will Tiller's FMJ Racing (NZL) is lying second to Andrei Arbuzov (RUS) at the end of the first round robin. Simone Ferrarese (ITA) is third, Staffan Lindberg (FIN) fourth, and Sergey Musikhin (RUS) fifth.
There are only four places for the semi-finals, and these will be decided on completion of round robin two.
Sails of White Nights (grade 1)
Round-Robin 1 Results
Skipper Sailed Win%
P. Wibroe 9 33%
S. Lindberg 9 67%
S. Ferrarese 9 78%
W. Tiller 9 78%
E. Kutovaya 9 11%
D. Chapman 9 33%
M. Stanczyk 9 11%
A. Arbuzov 9 89%
S. Musikhin 9 67%
M. Taranov 9 33%
Sails of White Nights
