From July 12 to 16, 2023, the main start of the season in the SB20 class took place in St. Petersburg – the Russian Championship, which brought together 26 strongest teams from Moscow, the Moscow region, Yekaterinburg, Chelyabinsk, St. Petersburg, Rostov-on-Don and Minsk at the start.
The Tenzor Team consisting of Andrey Pushkin, Daniil Odintsov and Alexander Andrianov took part in the competition for the first time, but was able to prove itself a worthy opponent. During the four racing days of the regatta, Tenzor Team competed in the leading group, taking 6th place in the final overall standings.
The beginning of the regatta was not easy. On the first race day, Tenzor Team was on a false start in one of the races and received a “black flag”, which meant disqualification. The other two races were successful, and the team settled in 11th place in the classification.
The second race day was held in excellent wind conditions. The wind was blowing from the west at a speed of 16-18 knots, with gusts up to 22 knots. The boats were planing, the fight was going on at high speeds. Andrey Pushkin’s crew had a great time in all three races that day, showing the arrivals in the top five (2-4-5). This allowed us to reach the third place in the classification after two race days. Kirill Frolov’s Hubex team, which twice became the champion of Russia in the SB20 class, continued to gain momentum in the leaders.
The third race day added a fly in the ointment to the good dynamics of the Tenzor Team’s performance in the championship. Andrey Pushkin’s team, going twice in the leading group, failed to show a productive finish. The cause was algae! As a result, Tenzor Team lost three positions in the overall standings and moved to 6th place.
“This race day was unfortunate for us. We drove into the algae twice. In one race we were the first, and 10 came. In the second race, we were third and got off because the boat stopped badly, started to lag behind, made attempts to get grass – Sasha dived under the boat, but there was already a point of no return when we were last, and we had to get off. In general, the boat has a very good speed, we took all the starts perfectly, we were in the lead, but luck was not on our side,” commented team tactician Daniil Odintsov at the finish of the third day.
The final race day summed up the results of the regatta, giving the start to two of the three scheduled races. A weak unstable wind accompanied the participants of the regatta all day. The first race of the day was canceled when the fleet passed the upper mark and a little bit of the full course. After a general wait, a westerly wind came to the water area in the region of 5-6 knots, which was already acceptable for the races. The organizers held two races. In one of them, the crew of Andrei Pushkin came 8th, in the second – third, retaining the sixth final position.
“I can’t say that we are very happy with the result, but we are not upset either, because the circumstances developed when we got into algae twice and nothing depended on us in that situation. Summarizing the speech, we are pleased that we came to this class. A very strong fleet – it’s nice to race with such riders and teams, where the professional level of training is felt in everything. The top-10 teams with coaches, on their boats, with new sails – all very thoroughly and professionally approach the regattas here in St. Petersburg. We will definitely stay in SB20, we will prepare for new starts and improve!” – summed up Daniil Odintsov.
The three winners of the championship were the teams of Hubex by Kirill Frolov, FLOW by Daniil Banayan and AtomTavatuy by Pavel Kuznetsov.
The Russian Championship in the SB class has become a bright event in this summer’s calendar and a new experience for the crew of Andrey Pushkin’s Tenzor Team. New starts are ahead!