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September 2013

Swan 60s battled it out for the Nord Stream Race title


Five Swan 60 teams have just completed the Nord Stream Race 2013. Now in its second edition and organised by the Yacht Club of Saint-Petersburg (SPBYC) and the Norddeutscher Regatta Verein (NRV), the offshore race challenged teams to sail 800nm non-stop across the Baltic Sea, racing from Flensburg, Germany to Saint-Petersburg, Russia.
 
Teams departed from Flensburg, Germany on Monday 16th September and after five days of close sailing, crossing the waters of 9 countries, Team Great Britain racing onboard Swan 60 Tsaar Peter took first place in the Gazprom Swan 60 Class.
 
A fantastic finish to the Nord Stream Race saw Team Great Britain and Team Russia battle it out right to the end, crossing the finish line in Saint-Petersburg with less than a boats length between them. Over an 800nm race this is exceptional and the final few miles were dramatic to watch, with the 60ft yachts tacking and fighting hard for the first place. Navigator onboard Team Great Britain, Jules Salter commented; “The race became a bit tricky at the end with all of the restrictions, there was a military zone and a test firing zone plus the commercial ships, so there was plenty going on as we approached Saint-Petersburg.”
 
Simon Fisher also onboard Team Great Britain noted how competitive the racing had been; “Sailing the Swan 60 was a great experience, it was very competitive as it is a one-design Class and everyone was really equal in speed which made for a great race. It really was close right to the end, two boats finishing just 26 seconds apart shows that, it made it a lot of fun for the sailors.”
Last year’s winners Team Russia, onboard Swan 60 Bronenosec took second place with Skipper Vladimir Liubomirov commenting; “when we came to the second transition we decided that whichever boat made the transition first would probably win the race, and as it was, Team GBR completed the transit earlier than us and took the lead, we had to push really hard then and go after our competitors.”
 
Team Germany racing onboard Swan 60 SGM finished third, Team Turkey took fourth place with Swan 60 Petite Flamme and Team Europe came fifth sailing onboard Swan 60 Spirit of Europe. Team Germany were also winners of the Nord Stream Inshore Race trophy after winning two fleet races in the run up to the Nord Stream Race start. Whereas Team Turkey were a crew of Bosphorus Gaz employees who took the opportunity to utilise the Nord Stream Race as a fantastic team building exercise, with Managing Director of Bosphorus Gaz Joachim Conrad believing; “if you put a team together on a sailing boat it becomes a matter of survival and the team have achieved brilliant results here, they are now well and truly welded together.”
 
Once in Saint-Petersburg crews were treated to a spectacular gala dinner at the Taleon Imperial Hotel followed by a prize giving ceremony in the city’s Maritime Museum.
 
Find out more via the Gazprom Swan 60 Class website – www.gazpromswan60class.com,
All images to be credited to ©onEdition

Team GBR Skipper Adrian Stead reviews the NSR


We caught up with Adrian Stead, skipper of winning Team Great Britain as the crew arrived into Saint-Petersburg, Russia.
 
"The whole race was very close, the fleet stuck together the whole way. Earlier on we managed to get quite a good lead but then Team Russia and Team Germany sailed up to us again, then we got away again and in the last 100 miles we were trying so hard to keep Team Russia behind us, for most of that time there was only a 2-3 mile gap between us.
 
Approaching the finish, I don’t think I have ever been so nervous in a race and that is after many years of sailing! To set the scene, at 10 miles to go we had a 1 mile lead, the wind was getting softer and we had 4 knots of breeze, there were ships coming out into the channel, it was dark and we could see Bronenosec closing in on us. It turned into a bit of match racing, we were tacking on them to the finish and we just managed to hold onto our position, it was very tense, nerve wracking and exciting, a tough end to the race.
 
I would say the end was absolutely mad! I give full credit to Team Russia and the other boats as they pushed us really hard. It has been really great though and not a bad result for our first attempt at the Nord Stream Race! We also had a fantastic team onboard who have all been brilliant, all of them put in 110%. We were all up on deck for the final 16 hours of the race, hiking it out and making sure every boat length worked. We pushed the boat incredibly hard and it all paid off for us, what brilliant results.
 
We were very fortunate to sail with the Gazprom Swan 60 Class and I would like to thank Vladimir Liubomirov and Igor Frolov (SPBYC) for this opportunity, it has been a fantastic race and great competition, we look forward to next year."
Igor Frolov of SPBYC with Adrian Stead and Team Great Britain during Nord Stream Race Â©onEdition

Swan 601 @robas wins Commodore Alberini Perpetual Trophy


Swan 601 @robas competed in the Mini Maxi Rolex World Championship earlier this month, taking place during the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup 2013.
 
Between the 1st - 7th September, the Swan 601 raced in the beautiful Porto Cervo in a combination of windward - leeward and coastal races. The event formed a key moment in all Maxi calendars for 2013 and again successfully attracted an array of stunning yachts to the waters of Sardinia.
 
The final prize giving was held on the evening of the 7th September on the Piazza Azzurra at the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda. Trophies and Rolex timepieces were awarded to the six class winners and the inaugural Commodore Alberini Perpetual Trophy, established to commemorate Past YCCS Commodore Gianfranco Alberini who ‘sailed away in June’, was awarded to Gerard Logel’s Swan 601 @robas.
 Swan 601 @robas at the Rolex Swan Cup ©Rolex/Carlo Borlenghi

One-Design racing keeps you fighting until the finish


The Rolex Fastnet Race 2013 saw Swan 60 SGM, skippered by Dmitry Samokhin take first place in the Gazprom Swan 60 Class division, beating Swan 60 Bronenosec and Swan 60 Petite Flamme.
 
Dmitry Samokhin shares his thoughts on the race and the one-design class; "Firstly we had a great team for the Fastnet Race; we were an international team consisting of Australian, British and Russian sailors and we did pretty well together with that combination. The location of the race and getting to sail in British and Irish waters was great; the atmosphere was also perfect.

It was easy to cover the Fastnet distance with the Swan 60 as the boat was great; 600nm was not a problem for her. As a team we all enjoyed ourselves and we enjoyed sailing onboard SGM. The conditions across the three days were medium which is exactly what you want to have for a great race.

At the beginning of the race, our skipper, one of Australia's most experienced offshore yachtsmen, Roger Hickman said that racing a one-design boat in a 600 nautical mile ocean race would be a new experience, I asked him what he meant and he told me I would see at the end. Roger has won the Sydney Hobart Race twice and competed in the race a great number of times so he is very experienced.

Then when the Swan 60 yachts were finishing the race 1 minute apart from each other after 600 nm I realised what Roger had been talking about. It was like match racing at the end of the race and very unusual for offshore racing. The Swan 60s are very evenly balanced so the fight is very intense, you cannot blame performance on the difference in the boat; the results depend on your skill."

Dmitry was present at the Nord Stream Race prize giving, where Swan 60 SGM took the prize for third place and Dmitry was awarded with his first place prize for the Rolex Fastnet Race.
 
Dmitry Samokhin with Fastnet Race crew and Swan 60 SGM Â©onEdition
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