Danish Smiles and Russian Stamina in the Gazprom Swan 60 Class

Day Five of the Rolex Swan Cup saw a few changes to thescoreboard with a gradual shift from 290 to 110 degrees during racing to finish in the South East.  Peter Lebrandt’s Swan 60 Vertical Smile continued to build on their 4th place from yesterday to push forward and win the first race of the day for Class A1.  Vladimir Liubomirov helming Bronenosec continued his solid foundation throughout the week taking a 2nd place.  These are important points for both the Danish and Russian teams who are focusing on the bigger picture of their overall position in the 2014 Gazprom Swan 60 series.  The Gazprom Swan 60 World Champion will be announced tomorrow after the final race of the day during the sparkling prize giving.

Peter Lebrandt has owned Vertical Smile since 2010 and is delighting in some podium placing this week, “we had an excellent start to the first race of the day down at the committee boat end of the line as we had more wind than those at the pin.  We went pretty much to the lay line as the wind shifted left with good boat speed and had a small lead on Bronenosec at the first mark.  We gained downwind in distance and then there was a change of course, by the end of the second upwind leg Bronenosec over took us again.  We then managed to roll
Bronenosec on the final downwind leg taking us into the finish first”.

The race committee pushed forward into race number 5 as other classes headed for the shore.  USA’s Petite Flamme came back into the game during this race to finish 3rd, an excellent addition to the score chart and cements this new team firmly in the top half of the fleet. 

The Russian stamina has earned the Saint Petersburg Yacht Club Team a 3rd in the summary of results, Petite Flamme sits in 4th with Vertical Smile in 5th.

Tomorrow is the final day of the Rolex Swan Cup.

Results Summary:

http://www.yccsfiles.com/results/rsc14/res/s14a1_g.htm