Moscow Regatta
Ian Mitchell
On 20 June, the weekend when the historic Round the Island race was being held off the Isle of Wight, the Club Italiani a Moscow (Moscow Italian Business Club) held a more modest but still highly enjoyable regatta on the Klyazma reservoir.
In addition to the Italians, there were teams from Australian, Canada Great Britain and Russia. The base for the day was the Yacht Club Vodnik, which sits behind razor-wire not far from the bridge which carries the Dmitrovskoe Shuassee over the Moscow-Volga Canal.
The weather was hot and with only scattered clouds, and the wind light and variable. This made for close racing and very enjoyable sailing. All the boats were the Carter 30s, though the quality of the sails varied. Each boat had a crew of five plus the owner. The Russians took the sailing most seriously of all the teams, whereas the Italians appeared to be enjoying themselves the most. The three English-speaking teams all sailed well, though the British possibly slightly better than the others, arguably due to the owner of our boat who sailed with us and shouted commands in a form of Russian which none of us could understand. But in any language, he was a wizard with his spinnaker!
The Italian Business Club hosted a wonderful party afterwards for all the crews and about two hundred guests. The food, the wine and the beer were all magnificently Italian, as was the weather. I think I would be correct in saying that everyone is looking forward to a return match next year.
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