RUS 27 “Annapurna” Win’s the Ski Vol….

Anatoloy Loginov helms his “Annapurna” to Victory with Vadim Statsenko & Alexander Shalagin.

Two more races were completed to conclude three days of super racing in a warm climate to round off the 2016 Ski Vol organised by the Societe’ des Regates d’Antibes. The final results went right down the to wire as the top 4 or 5 Dragons all performed well on the final day and it went not without incident……

The first race of the day started in a building sea breeze and it was FIN 85 “Thouband” helmed by Christian Borenius who made a fantastic start and built up quite a lead. Unfortunately, on the 2nd down wind leg, Christian and his team of Chris Winter & Richard Permici thought the course was T2. (Which would be 2 up wind & 2 down wind). However, although T2 had initially been displayed on the back of the Committee Boat prior to the start, it had been changed to T3 as the wind started to increase.  This change was made in plenty of time before the start and also announced on VHF.

An excellent regatta run by PRO Dominique Geniaux & his team on their Committee Boat.

Alas, FIN 85 did not see or hear the change of course so when they sailed through the finish after completing just 2 laps, there was just “Silence” ! By the time Christian and his team had realised the error, the rest of the fleet were rounding the gate and starting their 3rd up wind leg…  Making the most of this situation was FRA 409 “Tsuica” helmed by Gerard Blanc, who seized the chance and went on to win the race with his crew Jean-Gabriel Charton & Pierre Germain. This 1st place helped Gerard and his team to 4th overall, well sailed gentlemen.

Meanwhile also having another good race was RUS 34 “Even Better” helmed by Vasily Senatorov, crewed by Igor Ivashintsov & Slava Varnachkin who followed Gerard home to take 2nd place and more importantly would secure an excellent position of 3rd overall. RUS 27 finished 3rd in this penultimate race, which now made them favourites for the championship…

RUS 34 “Even Better” Vasily Senatorov, Igor Ivashintsov and Slava Varnachkin 3rd overall

In the final race, of this 7 race series, it was FIN 63 and FIN 83 who set the early pace coming from the left side of the first beat as the wind increased. These two teams had a great battle throughout the T3 course, until eventually it was FIN 63 helmed by Lauri Rechardt, crewed by Sami Salomaa & Nicholas Giraud, who finally took the gun. This first place also moved Lauri and his team up to a commendable 5th overall.  FIN 83 helmed by Jouko Lingrend crewed by Thomas Tenkenen & Linolfors Calle finished a creditable 2nd and RUS 35 “Sunflower” 3rd.

So overall it was once again Anatoly Loginov and his team on RUS 27 “Annapurna” who took the title for a second year running…  Well Done !

2nd overall and a very worthy runner up was RUS 35 “Sunflower” Victor Fogelson and 3rd RUS 34 “Even Better” Vasily Senatorov….

Victor Fogelson with his fantastic team of Oleg Khoperskiy & Slava Kaptiykhin 2nd overall

At the end of this super regatta the 25 teams all sailed back to the Yacht Club de Cannes for craning out and packing away. As usual it all went very smoothly as most competitors simply washed the boats down and covered them over with masts still up, as the Cannes Grade 1 Grand Prix is only a few weeks away……  

I would like to congratulate and thank Dominique Geniaux and his team of helpers/volunteers from the Societe’ des Regates d’Antibes for proving us with an excellent event. 7 races sailed over 3 wonderful summer/winter conditions during January is a great way to spend a long weekend…..

Higher, Faster, Longer…………      Stavros.  (GBR 789).