After sailing six events all season, it can be said the 24 teams in the Russian J/70 Sailing League were the most-traveled J/70 crews in the world. The season started and ended in Sochi. In the Grand Finale, it was great racing all three days right on the Sochi waterfront. Every team had a chance to sail in a wide variety of wind and sea conditions. Valerya Kovalenko’s ARTTUBE with crew of Alexander Bozhko, Igor Lisovenko and Egor Ignatenko won most races and never finished out of the top three to win by a commanding margin. As a result of the Sochi regatta, Sergei Musikhin’s LORD OF THE SAIL- ASIA team managed to sail a solid regatta to claim the ultimate sailing prize in Russia—to be crowned Russia’s Best Sailing Team, winning the Russian J/70 National Sailing League for 2017. On day one, 12 races took place, and each team had 4 starts. It was an excellent beginning for ARTTUBE and their skipper Valeriya Kovalenko, one of Russia’s top women sailors and skippers. Her team produced two firsts and two seconds for a total of 6 points to easily lead the regatta. Next came PIROGOVO’s Morozov and NAVIGATOR SAILING TEAM’s Rytov tied on 8 point each. Rounding out the top five were LORD OF SAIL- ASIA’s Musikhin sitting on 10 points in fourth. Then, fifth place had a three-way tie at 12 points each between KONAKOVO RIVER CLUB’s Kagansky, ST PETERSBURG YC ACADEMY SAILING TEAM’s Basalkina, and LORD OF THE SAIL- EUROPE’s Ermolenko. The penultimate day of racing had some unpredictable weather patterns. In the morning, Sochi was covered by a torrential rainstorm; then the sun came out and a stable wind of 12-14 knots appeared for awhile; and then at the end of the day, arrived a big frontal system with winds of 25+ knots and sheets of rain again. Despite the difficult weather, the Race Committee managed to ensure a good pace of the competition, as 14 races were held, for a total of 26 races run by the close of Saturday. Continuing to demonstrate their outstanding performance was Kovalenko’s ARTTUBE, adding three firsts and a fifth to their dominant scorecard for a total of 14 points in eight races. Seven points back was Musikhin’s LORD OF THE SAIL- ASIA, having clawed their way back onto the leaderboard. Lying in third new was Morozov’s PIROGOVO. On the final day for the Grand Finale of the summer-long series, six more races were completed to determine the winner of the Sochi Regatta, but also the overall champion for the Russian J/70 National Sailing League. After 32 races, the winner of the big finale of the season was Kovalenko’s ARTTUBE team, sporting a scorecard that had only one race outside the top three, including six firsts in 10 races. Second place went to another woman skipper Anna Basalkina from the ST PETERSBURG ACADEMY SAILING TEAM. Finally, taking the bronze on the podium was Igor Rytov’s NAVIGATOR Sailing Team. The Grand Finale in Sochi also produced the Russian J/70 National Sailing League Champions. That crown was award to LORD OF THE SAIL- ASIA, with skipper Sergei Musikhin and crew of Pavel Trofimchuk, Denis Tyurikov and Mikhail Korznikov. Their fourth place in the Grand Finale earned them their hard-won championship title. The overall series silver was awarded to NAVIGATOR Sailing Team, and rounding out the podium with the bronze was LORD OF THE SAIL- EUROPE’s Vyacheslav Ermolenko and crew. For more Russian J/70 Sailing League information, visit https://www.facebook.com/russiansailingleague/.