The decisive third stage of the Series of sailing regattas Tenzor International Cup 2022 was held from September 8 to 11 in the waters of the Pestovsky reservoir on the basis of the yacht club Tenzor Sailing Club.
The third stage awarded double points and determined the results of the Russian part of the tournament, so the participants were doubly motivated to show good results.
Both crews of the Tenzor Team, acting with the support of the title sponsor Tenzor Consulting Group and the general information partner of Vedomosti.Sports, had a good chance to win the podium.
The Tenzor Sport crew forced to change the team staff. Milena Nikitina, the helmsman, was unable to take part in the regatta for health reasons, so Daniil Odintsov, the team’s tactician, sat on the helm. Alexander Andrianov and Mikhail Yatsun joined the crew.
Tenzor Legal went to the start in full force – Andrey Pushkin on the helm, Pavel Sozykin in the role of tactician, Timofey Zubkov in the boatman position and bowman Nikita Ushkov completed the staff.
The regatta turned out to be very interesting and intense. In total, the organizers held 19 races.
The wind conditions on the first race day were good, but at the same time the wind was constantly shifting and not everyone was able to guess the gain and get into gusts.
Tenzor Sport coped brilliantly with the task, becoming the leaders of the intermediate classification with the first three arrivals.
Daniil Odintsov: “The wind was unstable, big approaches, big changes. It wasn’t easy without luck in this water area too hard. In one race we were very lucky: we got off to a bad start, but still came second. The rest of the races were working and according to plan, everything turned out quite easily. In the absence of Milena, I am now on the helm and on tactics, and this is more difficult: from a different angle everything looks different, I have to focus on the staysail, on helm, on driving… The team helps me a lot, and we have such a level of trust, and I can look the other way, they just tell me what to do while I assess the situation for the race. There were different situations in the races, the fleet is strong, everyone goes close to each other, and hence there are dangerous convergence, kneading and other moments. We try to avoid such things and anticipate the actions of rivals.”
Andrey Pushkin’s Tenzor Legal ended the day in 9th position. As the team’s tactician Pavel Sozykin noted: “It wasn’t physically hard, but by the end of the race day, concentration and attention decreased: they began to miss nuances, because of which they made tactical mistakes: they did not see the boat, they did not calculate at the start that the wind turned sour sharply, while they were accelerating, the fleet left … The wind was weak, sometimes it subsided, and it was necessary to adjust. With a stable wind, there were two third arrivals, and with a weak wind, even with well-taken starts, it was not possible to hold positions. Plus, inattention led to mistakes, and in the last races we did not come very well.”
The second competition day was spent waiting for the wind. From the very morning, a complete calm was established in the water area, and only in the afternoon it was possible to start the only race, which was successfully won by the Tenzor Sport crew, consolidating its leadership.
The third and final race day was very stressful for both crews of the team.
One unsuccessful arrival in 11th place deprived Tenzor Sport of a margin of safety and the closest rival – the “Russian Bogatyrs” team of Igor Rytov was able to break into the intermediate leaders with an advantage of 5 points. The fate of the “gold medals” was decided in the final race. The “Bogatyrs” got on a false start and registered only the 12th arrival, which allowed Tenzor Sport to win the stage. Sergey Sobolev’s ELF/Hubex team closed the top three.
The Tenzor Legal crew finished the stage in 8th place.
Pavel Sozykin: “The competition was unsuccessful, and for the most part not for the team, but for me personally. The crew worked well. Thanks to Andrey for his understanding and patience, and we hope that we will continue to show only the best results. I couldn’t find my rhythm, understand the weather, made a lot of mistakes, and these mistakes did not allow us to climb higher. We need to think, we need to do the work with mistakes and everything will come.”
In the overall standings, following the results of the three Russian stages of the Tenzor International Cup 2022 series, Tenzor Sport rose from 4th to 2nd place, taking a solid cash prize. The “Russian Bogatyrs” team climbed to the top step of the podium, and the ELF/Hubex team took the third place on the podium.
Tenzor Legal finished the Russian stages of the tournament in 9th place out of 26 teams.
The grand final of the series promises to be no less exciting. It will be held in Baku from November 3-6, 2022 on a completely new water area of the Caspian Sea on the base of Tenzor Sailing Club (Baku branch).