Two-dozen teams from across Russia assembled in Sochi to sail the 2019 Russian J/70 National Championship. The Sochi Grand Marina by Burevestnik Group hosted the three-day event. After a 10-race, two discards series, it was Alexander Bozhko and his crew on AKHMAT who were crowned as the Russian J/70 National Champions. Here is how it all went down on the waters of the Black Sea.
Day 1: Included in the 24 teams who started the Russian J/70 Nationals were many of the past few year’s leading teams. There were five women skippers participating. including DOLCE VITA (steering Inna Balashova), ARTTUBE RUS1 (Valeria Kovalenko), TREM SAILING 1 (Alexandra Peterson), TREM SAILING 2 (Irina Sorokina) and MATRYOSHKA (Natalia Kravets). The leading men’s crews included X-FIT (Vladimir Silkin), ZID ART SAILING TEAM (Zoran Paunovich), AKHMAT (Alexander Bozhko) and M-SAILING TEAM (Andrey Malygin). This was the first time the J/70 Class held their Russian National Championship in the Olympic capital city. A quiet wind set at 50-60 degrees twice led to race postponements right after the start. In the end, two races were held in the light northeast winds offshore. Leading was Alexander Bozhko’s Chechnyian crew aboard AKHMAT; they had only 4 points in two races. The second and third place teams were tied with 7 points each: the twin teams of M Sailing Team (Andrei Malygin) and M Sailing Team CSKA (Mikhail Poslamovsky). Sitting in fourth place just one point back was top woman helm Natalia Kravets on MATRYOSHKA. Fifth place also had a tie at 9 points each: Peter Nosov’s CARAMBA and Zoran Paunovich’s ZID art Sailing team.
Day 2: For the second day of sailing, Sochi weather was again distinguished by its inconsistency. Contrary to expectations, the wind was not stable. Four more races were added to the results for a total of six races to score. Further increasing their lead was Bozhko’s Chechen Republic team on AKMAT after posting two firsts and two seconds. Valeria Kovalenko on ARTTUBE RUS 1 had an amazing day, posting two firsts and a 3-4 to race up the standings into second place. Rising to third place was Malygin’s M-SAILING team.
Day 3: The final day of the regatta saw a stable wind of up to 8 knots, making it possible to run four more races for 10 in all. Teams could now discard their two worst results. Crowned as the 2019 Russian J/70 National Champion was the team from the Chechen Republic on AHKMAT. Bozhko’s team won with just 17 points total and not having to sail the last race. Rising to the challenge of maintaining a podium position was Malygin’s M-SAILING Team, taking the silver over Kovalenko’s ARTTUBE RUS 1 Team, who finished with the bronze medal. Rounding out the top five were Yuri Morozov’s RUSSOTRANS in fourth place and Peter Nosov’s crew on CARAMBA in fifth. For more Russian J/70 National Championship sailing information, visit http://nationalsailingleague.com/.