In Irkutsk, the anniversary, tenth Sailing Summer regatta starts, the traditional season opener for yacht sailors. Over three days, participants will hold five races totaling about 40 nautical miles, and winners will be determined in five classes. Teams from several cities in the region will take to the water, and young sailing club trainees will also join the starts alongside experienced sailors.
The regatta with which sailors traditionally open the season is anniversary this year — it will be held for the 10th time. The organizers said that 5 races will take place over three days. Their total length is about 40 nautical miles.Not the entire Irkutsk fleet will go out on the water after wintering. About one-third of it. The winners will be determined in five classes. "The 'micro' class, boats with a hull less than 8 m, less than 10, less than 12. And over 12 meters — both two-masted and single-masted sloops — there will be a combined large class," said Vyacheslav Chertkov, chairman of the Sailing Federation of the Irkutsk Region.
"Almost every year 1-2 new hulls or pennants appear, as sailors say. This year they also brought a new yacht. I don't yet know what it will be called. I think that if it doesn't appear in this regatta, it will definitely appear in the next one," noted Oleg Fedorov, secretary of the Sailing Federation of the Irkutsk Region.
Not only Irkutsk residents will take part in the starts, but also sailors from Angarsk, Bratsk, Ust-Ilimsk, and Severobaykalsk. There will be no all-female crew at "Sailing Summer." But women are entered as part of different teams. Along with experienced sailors, trainees from sailing sections — 12- to 14-year-old cabin boys — will go out into the waters of the Irkutsk Reservoir. The winners of the regatta will be known on Sunday.