The final fourth stage of the international tournament Tenzor International Cup 2023 was held in Sochi from November 2 to 5. The series gathered the strongest fleet of 18 teams that made it to the finals based on the results of the overall ranking of the first three stages of the tournament.
The Tenzor Team performed in the decisive stage with its permanent staff: Andrey Pushkin on the helm, Daniil Odintsov on tactics, Pavel Sozykin and Alexander Andrianov on the positions of boatman and bowman. The main goal for the team was to compete for the podium and earn the maximum number of points – the grand final played points with a double coefficient.
The first of three racing days was held in difficult wind conditions. Gusts reached 22-24 knots, and waves of 1.5-2 meters raged in the Black Sea. It was extremely difficult to manage the yacht, and unexpected yacht convergence and technical problems with the match occurred on the rounding the marks.
The only race held that day ended for the Tenzor Team with only the 15th arrival. The reason was unforeseen incidents, a torn gennaker and forced broaching.
Pavel Sozykin: The wind was moderate at first, but closer to the start it inflated and inflated, and during the race it reached its maximum – up to 20-22 knots and dispersed a good wave up to 1.5-2 meters high. This complicated the conditions for taxiing and racing, there were a lot of broaching, and because of this there were breakdowns. We suffered at the first mark because of such boats: they were brought abruptly in front of us, and they became uncontrollable. To avoid touching, we began to avoid them, got the broaching, tore up the gennaker. As a result, we had to go the first fly down wind already without a gennaker. In general, this is the unfortunate result we got.
The next race day was very productive – five races were started with a good moderate wind. There were difficulties – a short side wave, variable gusts from the shore, then from the sea required the crews to show all their skills. On the final, third day of the competition, it was not possible to give many races – there was only one. The reason for this was that the wind could not stabilize, turned sour, and completely ended in the middle of the day. Two races were cancelled ahead of schedule. The results of the grand final were calculated according to the seven races held. According to the counting rules, all teams had one worst result thrown out.
Due to the fact that Tenzor Team spent both days very stable: five arrivals in the top six, the result was good. The crew of Andrei Pushkin closed the top six, and at the end of the entire series became the 7th.
Daniil Odintsov: In general, we are satisfied with the result of our performance at the grand final of the regatta. We are equal on points with fifth place, we are not far from the top four and the top three. Not on the podium, of course, but I like that there is no permanent leader in the tournament. The first 12-15 ranked teams were able to get into the top three at this tournament. A very strong level of opponents, and that’s great!