Synergy Russian Sailing Team sends greetings to her friends and wishes them Happy New Year and Merry Christmas!!
Thank you for following the team and support the yachtsmen that participate in the project.
Our present is the photobook in epub format, which you can look through on iPad and iPhone by clicking this link.
28.12.2011 Synergy's captain and co-owner Valentin Zavadnikov spoke to RBC-Sport about the team and yachting and summarized the season.
"We participated in TP52 and RC44 classes last season. In both projects we had similar crews, but they had different ideology", says Valentin Zavadnikov, "TP52's peak happened in 2010, then it begun to decline. These yachts are powerful and expensive, they demand highly professional crews, that must not have any weak sides. The crisis affect everything, as soon as people started to count money, it became evident that TP52's participants would escape to alternative projects. We tried to make the experiment in both classes and to race with all-Russian crew. Although the outcome in terms of sports achievements was not high, but we reached great result from Russian sailing's developement standpoint".
"I suppose, it would not be possible to build the Russian sailing team with all-Russian crew in 15-20 years", adds Synergy's captain and co-owner, "Firstly, there are not many high quality professionals in Russia. Secondly, it's a cultural thing, we are not able to try to reach a goal collectively and together, we can just unite against somebody. We don't achieve the result, but we find the enemy to explain why we can't achieve the result. We can't work in competitive space. The foreigners are different. If there are at least three foreigners onboard, it is enough to maintain professional culture".
23.12.2011 Five regattas to be staged in America's Cup World Series in 2012. Teams will make stops in Italy and the USA.
The first regatta of new season is set to be held in Naples, Italy, on 7-15 April. It will be first event of 34th America's Cup that will stop in Italy. In 2011 there were three regattas, in Cascais (Portugal), Plymouth (UK) and San Diego (USA).
Then there will be Venice regatta, that is scheduled for 12-20 May. Three more events in 2012 are planned to be staged in the USA: in Newport (23 June - 1 July) and San Francisco (11-19 August and 27 August - 2 September).
18.12.2011 Synergy's trimmer Alexander Ekimov speaks to Sport-Express about December's training camp, that the Russian team staged on Lanzarote to begin preparation to new season.
"All our yachtsmen that raced with us in RC44 last season and November's World Championship attended the camp", says Ekimov, "Tommaso Chieffi served as the tactician, he raced with us at the World Championship on Lanzarote. Ed Reynolds participated as a coach".
"Our permanent coach Thierry Peponnet couldn't attend the camp due to participation in Volvo Ocean Race in Capetown", adds Alexander, "Reynolds is Quantum Group's director, he coached Quantum Racing in MedCup for years. Brett Jones helped us as a trimmer-coach. This a high-level professional as well. He is senior trimmer of Quantum Racing".
You can find the full article named "Synergy prepares to new season" in Russian following this link.
15.12.2011 New Italian team will make her debut in the RC44 Championship Tour in 2012.
AFX Capital Racing Team, which is owned by the founder and CEO of Eurograni SpA company Massimo Barranco, will join the RC44 fleet in new season. The Italian crew will make her debut at the RC44 Puerto Calero Cup, 8-12 February 2012.
"The first thing that attracted me to the circuit was the format of racing", says Barranco, who owns Extra 1 team of the X-41 class. "It is very similar to the rules of the America’s Cup, with the match race and fleet racing. I also admire the high quality of competitive sailors and the technical competition. I am convinced that the class will continue to improve and grow into the future and it is a project I am excited about being involved with".
AFX Capital Racing Team has bought the RC44 yacht, that was previously owned by another Italian crew Mascalzone Latino. The newcomer will have Bruni brothers onboard, Olympic sailor Gabriele and Francesco, the World Match Racing Tour-2011's runner-up.
In 2011 Synergy participated in 12 regattas. The Russian team begun the season in Florida in January at the 2011 Key West Race Week. Then the crew participated in two prestigious series, the RC44 Championship Tour and the Audi MedCup. Synergy's yachtsmen (Evgeny Neugodnikov, helmsman, Anton Sergeev, Alexei Kulakov, Konstantin Besputin and Egor Larionov) also captured 4th place at Match Race Germany regatta.
RC44 Championship Tour-2011 consisted of six regattas that were hosted in San Diego, Gmunden, Cagliari, Marstrand, Rovinj and Puerto Calero. Synergy won 15 flights in match racing and had 5 top-3 finished in fleet racing.
Audi MedCup-2011's events have been held in 5 cities: Cascais, Marseille, Cagliari, Cartagena and Barcelona. Synergy competed in TP52 class and won 4 races, including the opening one, and had 14 top-3 finishes.
The very first regatta of the next season, the RC44 Puerto Calero Cup, will be staged at Puerto Calero on 8-12 February. Synergy will have two more training camps before the season.
13.12.2011 Synergy's first RC44 training camp is over. The Russian team begun preparing for the next season.
Synergy raced the RC44 yacht for about 5 hours everyday from 8 to 12 December. The crew worked to perfect maneuvering skills. A couple of high-class yachtsmen were invited to help Synergy. There were trimmer-coach Brett Jones and coach Ed Reynolds (left on the picture, tactician Tommaso Chieffi is to the right).
Jones and Reynolds are three-time TP52 World Champions and two-time winners of MedCup with Quantum Racing. Jones raced in America's Cup four times.
Synergy will stage second training camp on 20-25 January 2012 on Lanzarote as well. The Canary Island is set to host the very first RC44 Championship Tour-2012 event, the RC44 Puerto Calero Cup, on 8-12 February.
11.12.2011 Synergy holds first training camp at Lanzarote as a part of preparation for new season in RC44 class.
The Russian team's very first training camp begun on Thursday, December 8, and it will came to an end on Monday, December 12. Synergy practiced on the water for three straight days for about 5 hours a day, working on maneuvering. The wind blows 15-20 knots at Lanzarote.
Second training camp for Synergy will be staged on 20-25 January 2012 at Lanzarote as well. The third one is scheduled for 3-7 February 2012.
The opening RC44 regatta of the 2012 season is going to be staged since 8 to 12 February at Puerto Calero.
07.12.2011 World Sailing Management (WSM), the organizer of MedCup Circuit, announced that it has decided to suspend the 2012 season.
The company's decision was taken due to the following reasons, that are related to the economic and financial crisis:
- Serious uncertainty regarding the number of boats, mainly in TP52 class, willing to commit to compete in all of the events comprising the circuit with the risk of an insufficient number of competitors to ensure the competitive level reached by the circuit in previous seasons.
- The lack of financial resources available to local authorities in their bid to become potential venues for the events of the circuit, which limited the ability to address their usual obligations and maintain the circuit’s level of quality.
- A decrease in the support needed from AUDI AG, the circuit’s title sponsor, has led WSM to terminate, early and peacefully, the sponsorship deal linking both companies.
WSM believes that it is more rational to suspend the Circuit than let it continue with falling standards, but the company hopes to stage MedCup again in near future.
02.12.2011 Synergy will hold three training camps before the start of new season. All three will be staged on Lanzarote, Canary Islands.
The opening camp of the Russian team is planned for 8-12 February 2011, second is set to be staged on 20-25 January 2012 and the third one is scheduled for 3-7 February 2012.
The third training camp is going to be held just before the beginning of the very first regatta of the 2012 RC44 Championship Tour. Puerto Calero, that is situated on the southern coast of Lanzarote, will host the event.
The marina played host to the RC44 World Championship in November 2011, where Synergy captured five victories in match racing.
