Andrey Pushkin’s Tenzor Team took 4th place in its division at the week-long sailing regatta in Turkey – OPEN SAILING WEEK 2023 (ex.”Russian Volvo Sailing Week”), which started on April 30 and finished on May 4 in Marmaris. 43 teams came to the start of the regatta. The crew of the Tenzor Team competed on the yacht Bavaria 46. The rivals in the division and overall standings had boats of various classes, so the “handicap” system was used for scoring, where each type of boat had its own coefficient.
Andrey Pushkin’s team was driven off very efficiently, and according to the actual time of the arrivals, it was always in the lead.
The first two days of the participants were accompanied by an unstable treacherous wind. On April 30, a triangle race took place in the Gulf of Marmaris, and on first “May Day” the teams overcame the route race from Chiftlik to Bozuk Kale.
“We didn’t get off to a very good start on the first race day, and we tried to get out during the race. At full courses, they lagged behind more, they caught up on maneuvering. On May 1, we made a great start at the offshore race, got in the right direction, won a little, but then the wind ended. Small gusts came from different directions, and we tried to take it out on them, and then the wind went from a completely different direction, not in the one where we were. We had to get out, keeping closer to the wind and the rivals,” said Nikita Ushkov, the team’s bowman.
On May 2, the participants of the regatta continued to compete on the Bozuk Kale – Sut section. The offshore 11-mile race ended with a brilliant victory for the Tenzor Team. The winning mood was maintained the next day – the longest 30-mile distance was overcome according to the best actual time, however, after the recalculation, Tenzor Team turned out to be third.
As the team’s tactician Daniil Odintsov said: “It was two very good working days. The first offshore race with a distance of 11 miles was held with a wind of 10-12 knots. We started a full course, finished in a maneuver – a slightly non-standard distance. We won the start, led the whole race, finished second in fact, because, unfortunately, a boat that technically goes faster got into our division and it is possible to overtake it only in case of an error. So it happened, they broke the rules, and they were disqualified, and we moved to the first line. On May 3, a 30-mile long offshore race was held. We started with different courses in a fresh wind, gusts reached 23-25 knots, but closer to the finish the wind began to subside, and the finish was already taken in complete calm. The race lasted about 7 hours, our team led the whole race and actually even came first. There was a very tight fight at the distance, we controlled the rivals, but a fast boat beat us on the recalculation of the results, since they had a higher handicap score of the regatta and another boat that finished behind us was recalculated by points. The third parish is credited to us”.
The final day of the Open Sailing Week 2023 turned out to be difficult in terms of weather conditions. Over the waters of the bay in Marmaris, where the race took place, there was both heavy rain and squally wind, which was replaced by calm. The participants gave their best to show decent results.
In the evening, the official results of the regatta were announced at the award ceremony and the medals found their owners. Andrey Pushkin’s Tenzor Team was satisfied with its result and preparations for the start of the sailing season in Russia.
“We got a lot of positive emotions, and most importantly, a new experience. And despite the fact that we did not manage to get on the podium in this regatta, we are absolutely not upset, because it was not the main start for us, but on the contrary, such a fan, warming up before the key regattas of the season. Everyone raced amicably and cohesively, the crew worked perfectly, we are moving on!”, – summed up Daniil Odintsov.