Russians sail to victory in Nord Stream Race 2018
by Nord Stream Race 6 Jul 2018 17:54 BST
24 June - 7 July 2018
Team Russia, Lord of the Sail - Asia, crossing the finish line © NSR / Andrey Sheremetev
The Russian crew called Lord of the Sail - Asia have won the Nord Stream Race 2018 after a narrow victory in the final offshore leg from Helsinki to St Petersburg.
While the team could only manage fourth place overall in 2017, the Russians have dominated this year's 1,000 nautical mile from west to east through the Baltic Sea by winning in the offshore ranking, the inshore ranking and the combined all-rounder ranking.
Although the German crew representing Norddeutscher Regatta Verein notched up a perfect score in the opening salvo of this competition two weeks ago – winning seven times in seven inshore races at Kiel Week – the Russians soon established themselves as the team to beat. Lord of the Sail - Asia went on to overtake Germany in the short-course racing and win the "Nord Stream Race Inshore Trophy". Having also won two of the four offshore legs, the Russians take the "Nord Stream Cup" for best all-rounder in the combined inshore and offshore ranking.
Skipper Sergey Musikhin commented: "We came through some very tough times during this race. Two weeks with so many challenges, but that's offshore racing. All those things made our team stronger; we were racing not just for ourselves, but for our country, our flag. Congratulations to our team, we did our best under harsh circumstances."
Behind the Russians, Kris Houmann's Danish crew on Frederikshavn Sejlklub have finished second overall in the offshore trophy – a significant improvement for skipper Kris Houmann after his crew were unable to complete last year's final leg to St Petersburg when gear breakage forced them to divert to Tallinn, Estonia's capital city. From finishing last in 2017 to finish second overall in 2018 is a mark of Danish tenacity to come back and get the job done.
The positions across the finish line in St Petersburg were very close after 24 hours of racing. In order to beat the Russians, the Danes would need to get at least one boat between them and the series leaders. As it was they finished exactly two minutes behind Lord of the Sail - Asia; not good enough for overall victory but an excellent performance nevertheless. Houmann said: "We've had a good race. In all four legs we've been the leading boat at some point. It's been incredibly close between the boats but in the end the Russians were the best team and we congratulate them in their victory."
Norddeutscher Regatta Verein finished third in the final leg, placing Team Germany third overall in the offshore trophy while they were runners-up to Russia in the inshore series. The high point for this crew was their mastery of boat-breaking gale-force conditions on the long leg from Copenhagen to Stockholm, resulting in a heroic leg win for the Germans.
The Swedes from the Royal Swedish Yacht Club, Kungliga Svenska Segelsällskapet, won the best start out of Helsinki on Wednesday but ended up last across the finish line in St Petersburg. However, they did just enough to finish a point ahead in the overall standings, relegating the Finnish crew Åländska Segelsällskapet to fifth place in overall offshore ranking.
The boats arrived in St Petersburg on Thursday evening, and at last the sailors could enjoy the warmth and hospitality of St. Petersburg Yacht Club, the organising authority for the Nord Stream Race. After the final prizegiving in the Central Naval Museum on Thursday, the crews along with VIPs were ready to enjoy a special tour of the historic city of St Petersburg, followed by the much-anticipated gala dinner in the evening at the Peter and Paul Fortress.
The best yacht clubs of the National Sailing Leagues from the Baltic countries Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Russia competed this year in a fleet of one-design ClubSwan 50 racing yachts. The sailors, especially those who had never raced offshore before, have come a long way – approximately 1,000 nautical miles – since departing Kiel in North Germany just under two weeks ago.
Vladimir Liubomirov, commodore of St Petersburg Yacht Club, the organising authority of the Nord Stream Race, founded the race back in 2012 and has competed in two editions. "My second race was more than 1,000 miles with no stops, from Germany to St Petersburg, which was an interesting experience. But I feel stopovers are needed. It's interesting for the crews but also for the citizens of cities where we stop. I consider this new format with stopovers to be a success and that's what we intend for next year too."
Since its inception in 2012, the Nord Stream Race has been organised by the Saint Petersburg Yacht Club with the support of Gazprom and Nord Stream AG. The race is 1,000 nautical miles long and runs along the Nord Stream pipeline route.
From 24 June to 6 July, the 1,000 nautical mile race course followed the Nord Stream pipeline from Kiel to Saint Petersburg, with stopovers in Copenhagen, Stockholm and Helsinki. The aim of the Nord Stream Race is summed up by the race slogan "Connecting Baltics through Sport". It's about using sport to bring together sailors from different countries in the Baltic region for a friendly competition and cultural exchange.
The winner of Nord Stream Race 2018 is:
Offshore – Nord Stream Race Trophy: Lord of the Sail - Asia, Russia
Inshore – Nord Stream Race Inshore Trophy: Lord of the Sail - Asia, Russia
All-rounder – Nord Stream Cup: Lord of the Sail - Asia, Russia