Three exciting racing days spent in the Mediterranean waters of Barcelona on the fourth stage of the Baracelona Winter Series 2021/2022 are behind us! The regatta turned out to be interesting and eventful, and the final was incredible in the team’s battle for podium.
On January 21, 13 teams of the fourth stage of Barcelona Winter Series gathered at the Real Club Nautico de Barcelona (RCNB). The entry list was traditionally made up of the strongest teams in Spain. Russia was represented by the Tenzor Team with two crews of Andrey Pushkin’s Tenzor Legal and Milena Nikitina’s Tenzor Sport. Another crew of Boris Burmentyev’s Sekuritance performed under the Russian flag. Representatives of Poland – Elessar2 and Moonraker teams, Germany – Pinguino Rosa, Great Britain – Seriousfun and Mist supplemented the international line-up.
On the first race day, two races were held on the onshore wind, which is characterized by big changes. Both Tenzor Team teams coped with it very well, demonstrating good starts, correct tactical decisions, which allowed them to gain a foothold in the second (Tenzor Sport) and fourth (Tenzor Legal) positions in the classification.
The next day, the organizers managed to hold a full-fledged competition day and four races. The Noticia team broke out into confident leaders, which recorded the first two arrivals on its account. Milena Nikitina’s crew lost one position, but retained a place in the “top-3”. The second crew of Andrei Pushkin spent the day less successfully, dropping to the 7th line. As noted by Tenzor Sport tactician Daniil Odintsov: “It was a hard day for the helmsmen. Non-standard wind, a lot of calls and wind changes, so it was quite difficult to control the boat.”
The third race day at the Barcelona Winter Series summed up the results and determined the winners and prize-winners of the fourth stage of the regatta. A weak wind made serious adjustments to the final position of the teams at the stage.
The Tenzor Team finished the race in the following positions: Tenzor Sport – 4th place (29 points), Tenzor Legal – 7th place (37 points).
The leader of the regatta was also replaced: the first two arrivals allowed the Spanish team Monjo to literally snatch victory from Noticia, who was leading the two race days! As a result, Noticia won “silver”, and another representative of Spain, the Bodega Can Marles team, won “bronze”.
Daniil Odintsov and Timofey Zubkov shared their impressions about the regatta.
Daniil Odintsov (Tenzor Sport): “On the final day of the regatta, two races were held in a weak wind. The guys (Tenzor Legal) have 7-2 arrivals, we have 4-9. Before the last race, a place on the podium was decided for us. The organizers were waiting for the start, but the control time was approaching, and it was decided to hold the race in a very weak wind – 3-4 knots. Our choice fell on the right side, before that a month ago the right side was winning, but unfortunately we were unlucky… A new wind came with a large 30-degree approach from the left side, where most of the boats were, and we rounded the mark at the end of the fleet, which greatly affected the final result. Conclusions were made, work on mistakes was done. It was possible to be in the podium, but we consider the fourth result worthy.”
Timofey Zubkov (Tenzor Legal): “Contrary to expectations, almost all the races were held in a weak wind, although we would like to test ourselves in stronger wind conditions. At this stage, we did a good job on the technique of controlling the boat, on maneuvers in a weak wind. We got a very valuable experience. We thank Barcelona for the two stages that we held here in December and January. We liked everything very much, the judging was organized superbly, besides, the level of competition among the crews is extremely high.”