Dragon Open Russian and Gazprom European Championships - Preview

Russian Dragon Open Championships final day © Stefano Gattini

St. Petersburg Yacht Club is currently hosting the great Dragon competition: Russian Dragon Open and Gazprom Dragon European Championship. Entries count 14 countries with numerous Dragon class stars to visit the Northern Capital of Russia.

The competitor's list reads like "Who's who?" of the modern Dragon fleet. For the pre-Europeans – the Russian Dragon Open there are 24 crews from six nations. Seeking to learn the local tricky waters that combine both river Neva currents with the Gulf of Finland waves are the entries from the UK, Finland, Switzerland, Germany who will join an extensive Russian fleet. For the start of the Europeans the fleet cast will double.

St. Petersburg Yacht Club is happy to welcome the triple Olympic gold medalist and America's Cup legend Jochen Schümann who will be calling the shots for Marcus Brennecke (GER11) a successful sailor himself having scored 3rd in recent Danish Open and 6th in the Italian Championship. There are several more strong crews coming from Germany. GER 1123 Michael Zankel, helm of "Powwow", is sailing with Pedro Andrade, a top tactician from Portugal. The team had a fantastic season last year in Cascais, having won one event and taking two times third places in the winter series. GER 1157, Michael Schmidt, also a great and very competitive sailor, winner of the 2015 Regattes Royales and the Swiss Open Championship.

Four times Dragon European Champion and all-round successful helmsman Marcus Wiezer (UAE7) will be again a part of the Trnasbunker Team together with the Olympic gold medalist and World champion 470 Evgeniy Braslavets and 49er Athens silver medalist Georgiy Leonchuk. 2015 was very successful for the team: Transbunker won both World and European championships so in St. Petersburg the team will face a tough competition to defend their title. This year the team has already won Dragon Grand Prix Germany (UAE20 Hendrick Witzmann) and Italian Open (UAE8 Eugen Braslavets).

Neighbouring Finland fleet will be represented a mixed crew FIN89 of Sara Antila and reciprocal to St. Petersburg YC HSK club's commodore Timo Nurmilaukas (FIN72). Danish fleet is led by former European Champion and acting national champion Jens Christensen (DEN410).

2013 World Champion Klaus Diederichs (GBR758) will be sailing both the Open Russian and continental championship. Diderich's team is reinforced with the famous polish America's Cup sailor, World and European match race champion Karol Jablonski. The Switzerland's Hugo Strenbeck (SUI 311) has already scored this year's Grand Prix Guyader in Duarnenez.

The Russian fleet has grown from strength to strength from Dragon Olympic age to the modern times. So the seasoned sailors are often competing alongside the newcomers. Helm of the 1972 Soviet Olympic Dragon team, 82 years Boris Khabarov is still an active competitor having registered for Open Russian championship.

Anatoly Loginov's RUS27 is one of the most titled crews in the modern Russian fleet having won Gold Cup in 2010. Defending Russian champion Dmitry Samokhin was second last year on both Dragon Europeans and the Gold Cup so no doubt this time his RUS76 Strange Little Girl will be seeking for gold.

Atlanta silver medalist in Soling Georgiy Shaiduco will be helming RUS6 Stasya as well as Vasily Senatorov, IDA Chairman and Russian Dragon Association President: "It is a great honour for the Russian Dragon Association and Saint Petersburg Yacht Club as well as whole Russian sailing community to be the host for Dragon European Championship 2016. For many years our sailors have been an integral part of the worldwide Dragon family so it's the right time to introduce our country.

Needless to say that we take this chance very seriously and we'll do our best to exceed our guests' expectations. St.Petersburg Yacht Club has all the amenities and means to guarantee the best sailing and quality boat-handling. Besides great sailing on Finnish gulf having 2016 Europeans in St. Petersburg is a chance to discover one of the most picturesque cities in the world".

The competition schedule sets Russian Dragon Open official practice race on 11th July and racing on 12-14th July. Gazprom Dragon European Championships will open on 15th July and racing on 17-22nd July.

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