The professional sailing team Tenzor Team won a brilliant victory at the first stage of the Russian Cup in the J/70 class.
The two-day regatta took place from May 27 to May 29 in the Moscow region in the waters of the Pirogovsky arm of the Klyazma reservoir on the basis of the “Pomestie Gals” yacht club, bringing at the start-line 23 teams from different regions of Russia.
The Tenzor Team at this competition was represented by a crew consisting of Milena Nikitina on the helm, Pavel Sozykin as a tactician, Alexander Andrianov as a boatman and Nikita Ushkov on the bowman position.
Both racing days in the water area were difficult weather conditions – changeable wind with gusts, rains and thunderclouds affecting the wind situation.
On Saturday, May 28, the organizers held four races.
The team of Milena Nikitina, Pavel Sozykin, Alexander Andrianov and Nikita Ushkov took the lead, showing three first arrivals and one fourth result, which gave a total of 7 points. The closest rivals — Alyona Shchukina’s Dream Team (21 points), Alexander Yezhkov’s Pirogovo (21 points) and Valeria Kovalenko’s Arttube (22 points) finished the day with a big gap from the leader.
Pavel Sozykin (Tenzor Team tactician): “The conditions were quite difficult: gusty wind, large differences in wind strength, we had to constantly maneuver to catch gusts. At the start, it was advantageous to take the start from the pin, so the struggle there was persistent. We took good starts, left quickly, and successfully maneuvered. In general, everything worked out today, the team worked smoothly, and everyone was as focused as possible.”
On the second day of the race, the goal of the Tenzor Team was to work as well as possible and keep the lead in a difficult fight with strong rivals.
For 6 races held in conditions of difficult to predict wind, Milena Nikitina and her team managed to do it, and with a comfortable margin to keep the first place. Zoran Paunovich’s ZIDart Sailing Team became the second in the final classification, and Valeria Kovalenko’s Arttube team closed the top 3.
Nikita Ushkov (tank Tenzor Team): “On the second day there were 6 races and very changeable conditions. Strong and weak gusts were from different sides. Real Moscow conditions! The situation on the water was changing, and all the strong crews managed to get bad arrivals, because the wind was hard to predict. We were fighting, and we were a little more lucky than the others. The first day of the race was more productive in our arrivals, but we went more stable in the second. And this made it possible to maintain the gap and stay in first place.”
A confident victory at the first stage of the Russian Cup in the J/70 class was an excellent start in the fight for victory in the series at the end of the season.
Milena Nikitina (helmswoman): “The regatta was a success, thanks to my team for the excellent work. There were very difficult weather conditions – the wind was twisting strongly, the gusts came from nowhere, it was difficult to guess them. Very strong rivals, with whom it is interesting to fight, all were motivated for the result. On the first day we managed to make a breakaway and come first three times. On the second day, we acted more tactically, tried to control the opponents, so there were not very good arrivals at the 9th, 10th positions at several races, but the task was completed. For me, the main goal of participating in the Russian Cup is to fulfill the sports standard and get a “master of sports”.