SAILING Champions League Act 1 at St. Petersburg - Day 1
by Andy Rice 26 Aug 2016 21:27 BST
26-28 August 2016
SAILING Champions League in St. Petersburg Act 1 day 1 © Sailing Champions Leagie / Andrey Sheremetev
It was a good first day's racing for the 23 clubs competing in the SAILING Champions League in St. Petersburg (Act 1, 26. – 28. August). With 12 nations represented, the club teams enjoyed good conditions and battled hard but fair in the 14 short-course races today.
After day one the Norddeutscher Regatta Verein is leading the fleet, followed by the Berliner Yacht-Club and the Regattaclub Bodensee (Switzerland). Racing continues on Saturday morning at 10am local time.
This is the third occasion for the SAILING Champions League, the international inter-club contest that has taken the competitive racing world by storm since it launched just a couple of years ago. Today's first race day in St. Petersburg provided the sailors with good conditions and enabled organisers at the Saint Petersburg Yacht Club to complete a busy schedule of 14 races.
The Norddeutscher Regatta Verein holds the lead after four consecutive wins. "We were a bit lucky in the first four races to win four times in a row," said Tobias Schadewaldt, helmsman of the Norddeutscher Regatta Verein. "In the fifth race we misread the wind, but still managed to lead the fleet after the first day and of course we are very happy about that."
The 23 clubs have each come to St. Petersburg to fight for 14 places in the grand final in September in Porto Cervo. In Sardinia it´s all about the battle for the silver bowl, created by Robbe & Berking, and being crowned the best yacht racing club in Europe.
Racing continues on Saturday at 10am, and you can follow the action live at scl2016.sapsailing.com. Technology partners of SAILING Champions League, SAP and SailTracks are running a live broadcast and expert commentary on Saturday and Sunday from 12pm onwards.