As the RC44 fleet gear up for the third event of the 2013 RC44 Championship Tour, the Bronenosec Sailing Team owned by Russian Vladimir Liubomirov have joined the class and will compete for the first time at the RC44 Sweden Cup in Marstrand later this month.
Liubomirov is no stranger the international sailing world, having won the prestigious Russian Sailor of the Year Award 2012 and is the current Commodore of the Yacht Club of Saint Petersburg and skipper of the Swan 60 Bronenosec.
Having purchased No Way Back from Pieter Heeerma, the winning boat at the 2009 RC44 World Championships, Liubomirov and his Gazprom sponsored Bronenosec Sailing Team are keen to further promote professional sailing within Russia. “The successful start of the Gazprom Swan 60 project gave us the opportunity to think about a more, let’s say, technically advanced class. The basic goal is to have several leading St. Petersburg Yacht Club professional teams in the hope of encouraging youth sailing within Russia and raising the profile of professional Russian sailors.”
Liubomirov will be joined for the RC44 Sweden Cup by experienced RC44 tactician Michele Ivaldi whose regular Team CEEREF are unable to compete in Sweden, before Italian America’s Cup veteran Tommaso Chieffi takes over for the remainder of the season. “Tommaso has not only become one of the ideologists of Gazprom Swan 60 class creation but also helped to build an excellent team onboard Bronenosec. I believe Tommaso is one of the most talented sailors and also a bright strategist. I personally learnt a lot from him as a helmsman and it is, in a lot of ways, his merit that we were so successful last year.” Explains Liubomirov.
Having worked closely together in the Swan 60 class, Liubomirov and Chieffi have carefully picked a talented team of Italian and Russian sailors.
Bronenosec Sailing Team Crew List
Vladimir Liubomirov (RUS) – Owner/ Driver
Ekaterina Skudina (RUS) – Match Race Helm
Tommaso Chieffi, (ITA) – Tactician
Pietro Mantovani, (ITA) – Bowman
Dmitriy Arsenyev (RUS) – Bowman
Lorenzo Mazza, (ITA) – Trimmer
Alexander Shalagin (RUS) -Trimmer
Francesco Rapetti (ITA) – Pitman
Vladimir Ikonnikov (RUS) -Trimmer
Alberto Barovier, (ITA) – Main Trimmer
Igor Frolov (RUS) – Team Manager
Diego Torrado (ESP) – Boat Captain
Bronenosec Sailing Teamwill combine the RC44 Tour events alongside their racing schedule for the Gazprom Swan 60 project.
The next event of the Championship Tour will be the RC44 Sweden Cup 2013, hosted at the Swedish sailing mecca, Marstrand from the 25 – 29 June.
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RC44 Championship Tour Fleet Race Ranking
(After two events)
1 Team Aqua – 3
2 Katusha – 4
3 Artemis Racing – 7
4 Team CEEREF – 8
5 Team Nika – 9
6 Synergy Russian Sailing Team – 11
7 Ironbound – 17
8 Peninsula Petroleum Sailing Team – 18
9 Aleph Racing – 19
10 Team Italia – 20
11 Aegir Racing – 20
12 RUS7 Sail Racing Team – 20
13 MAG Racing – 26
14 Puerto Calero Sailing Team – 28
RC44 Championship Tour Match Race Ranking
(After two events)
1. Katusha – 10
2. Team Aqua – 7
3. Aleph Racing – 6
4. Synergy Russian Sailing Team – 6
5. Artemis Racing – 6
6. Peninsula Petroleum Sailing Team – 6
7. RC44 Team CEEREF – 5
8. Aegir Racing – 5
9. Team Italia – 3
10. RUS7 Sail Racing Team – 3
11. Team Nika – 2
12. MAG Racing – 2
13. Ironbound – 0
14. Puerto Calero – 0
Teams competing in the RC44 Sweden Cup:
Aegir Racing (GBR22)
Brian Benjamin (GBR) /Ian Williams (GBR)
Aleph Racing (FRA17)
Hugues Lepic (FRA) / Mathieu Richard (FRA)
Artemis Racing (SWE44)
Torbjorn Tornqvist (SWE) / Morgan Larson (USA)
Ironbound (USA 1)
David Murphy (USA) / Paul Goodison (GBR)
Katusha (RUS 007)
Gennadi Timchenko (RUS) / Andy Horton (USA)
Peninsula Petroleum Sailing Team (GBR 1)
John Bassadone (GBR) / Vasco Vascotto (ITA)
Synergy Russian Sailing Team (RUS 13)
Valentin Zavadnikov (RUS) / Ed Baird (USA)
Team Aqua (GBR 2041)
Chris Bake (GBR) / Cameron Appleton (NZL)
Team Italia (ITA7)
Massimo Barranco (ITA) / Flavio Flavini (ITA)
Team Nika (RUS 10)
Vladimir Prosikhin (RUS) / Tomislav Basic (CRO)
Bronenosec Sailing Team (RUS)
Vladimir Liubomirov (RUS) / Tommaso Chieffi (ITA)